Lok Sabha passes the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019
22-July-2019
Lok Sabha passes the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019
Government is fully committed to
transparency and accountability; No question of decreasing autonomy of
Information Commissions: Dr. Jitendra Singh
Lok Sabha passed the Right to
Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 today. In this amendment, it is
proposed to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005 so as to provide
that the term of office of, and the salaries, allowances and other terms
and conditions of service of, the Chief Information Commissioner and
Information Commissioners and the State Chief Information Commissioner
and the State Information Commissioners, shall be such as may be
prescribed by the Central Government.
Participating in the debate on the Bill,
Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions,
Dr. Jitendra Singh said that this Government is fully committed to
transparency and accountability. Following this principle, the
Government has encouraged suo motu dissemination of maximum information
by Government Departments in order to reduce number of RTIs.
In addition to this, the Minister said
that the Government is focussing on grievance redressal through citizen
involvement. This has strengthened the underlying principle of RTI and
has consistently reduced the pendency of RTI applications in the last 5 years, the Minister informed the House.
Assuring the members that the Government
is not misusing its powers to frame rules regarding State Information
Commissions, Shri Singh said that according to the original RTI act of
2005, the power of framing rules in respect of Information Commissions
does not fall under the purview of either the Union or the State or the
Concurrent lists. Hence, framing rules, even for the State Information
Commissions, falls under the Residuary powers of the Union Government,
the Minister said.
Replying on the issue of comparison of
service conditions of Information Commissions and Election Commissions,
Shri Singh said that the Central Information Commission and State
Information Commissions are statutory bodies established under the
provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005. Therefore, the mandate
of Election Commission of India and Central and State Information
Commissions are different. Hence, their status and service conditions
need to be rationalised accordingly. Further, the Minister said that
there has been no change in the section of the original act dealing with
the appointment of Information Commissioners. Thus, the question of
decreasing autonomy of the Information Commissions doesnot arise, the
Minister added.
Source: PIB
