The Bill seeks to empower the Centre to make rules to decide the tenure, salary, allowances and other terms of service of the information commissioners of the Central Information Commission and also of State Information Commissions.
RTI activists from across the country collected and handed over one lakh signatures against the RTI Amendment Bill to the office of the President on Thursday. The activists want President Ram Nath Kovind to return the RTI Amendment Bill back to the Parliament.
They had written to the President and asked him to take a conscience call before putting his signature on the Bill.
The Rajya Sabha passed the Bill last week after an acrimonious debate and Opposition walkout. The Bill was passed after rejecting several amendments and motions seeking to refer the Bill to a Select Committee of Parliament. As many as 117 members voted against the opposition motion while 75 members voted in its favour.
YSRCP, BJD, and TRS also voted with the government.
The Bill seeks to empower the Centre to make rules to decide the tenure, salary, allowances and other terms of service of the information commissioners of the Central Information Commission and also of State Information Commissions.
IN A NUTSHELL
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| The Rajya Sabha passed the Bill last week after an acrimonious debate and Opposition walkout |
| The Bill seeks to empower the Centre to make rules to decide the tenure, salary, allowances and other terms of service of the Information Commissioners |
"Some activist today gave over one lakh signatures to the office of the President. They were detained and some were allowed to visit his office to give signatures. By evening the count had crossed 1.5 lakh signatures," said Shailesh Gandhi, former central information commissioner whose letter was endorsed online and signatures were collected.
Besides collecting signatures, RTI activists in the city are looking to continue with their protest. A gathering cum protest will be held on Sunday.
"We have been conducting a lot of internal meetings and discussions about protesting the RTI amendments. Personally, I feel tenure matters as they may decide to end someone's tenure at any time. In that case, no CIC will have guts to pass orders," said Anjali Damania, who is organising a protest on Sunday.
She added, "For democracy to remain healthy, two things matter most. One is a good opposition which is not there at present. Any Tom, Dick and Harry are leaving opposition to join the ruling alliance. The other is information.
Even if information continues to flow to media, they continue to raise the question and then there will be a good check on the government. If the information does not flow freely, we are in for bad times, that is not good for a healthy democracy. The information has to flow freely and it is my right to have information as a citizen."
Activists say that they are looking to have a meeting with prominent speakers in days to come.
"If they end up passing the amendment, we will continue to protest and also seek ways in which it can be challenged in court," said Damania.
(With input from agencies)
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