The Toothless Monster, RTI Amendment Bill, 2019

“Power
tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

                         – Baron Acton  

The mentioned quote is appropriate for the recent amendment bill passed by both the houses of the Parliament of India. RTI Amendment Bill 2019 was introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions on July 19, 2019 and passed on July 22, 2019. It was passed by the Rajya Sabha on July 25, 2019.

RTI Act is one of the instruments which
has empowered the citizens of India. It is one of the most successful laws of
independent India in empowering the ordinary citizens
and bringing in the confidence amongst the citizens to question the
governmental authorities and machinery. This act aims at the accountability and
citizen-centric approach of the government. It also acts as a deterrent factor
for the government servants and bureaucrats that they cannot act and work
arbitrarily and thus keeping in place the doctrine
of checks and balances.

Recently, the Supreme Court of India in the case of Anjali Bhardwaj & Ors. Versus UOI[1] held that the RTI Act is enacted not only to sub-serve but also to ensure freedom of speech. Good governance, which is an essential component of any vibrant democracy, can be achieved if the act is properly implemented. Attaining good governance is also one of the visions of the constitution. It also has a vital connection with the development of the nation.

Key
highlights of the proposed RTI Amendment Bill, 2019:

• Term:

Firstly, the bill aims at amending Section 13 and 16 of the
RTI Act, 2005. In 2005 Act, the term for the Central Chief Information
Commissioner, State-level Chief Information Commissioner and Information
Commissioners was fixed for the term of 5 years (or until the age of 65 years
whichever is earlier). But the amendment specifies that the appointment will be
for such term as may be prescribed by the central government.

• Salary:

In the RTI Act, 2005 the salary of the CentralInformation Commissioner (CIC) was
equivalent to the salary of the Chief Election Commissioner, salary of the
State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC) and the Information Commissioners
(ICs) was equivalent to the salary of the Election Commissioners and at the state
level, State Information Commissioner (SIC) the salary was equivalent Chief
Secretary to the state. In this proposal, however, it is suggested that the
provisions of the RTI Act, 2005 be amended so as to provide that the term of office 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.

• Deductions:

The proposed amendment bill also
removes the provision that when appointed, if CIC and ICs are receiving the
pension or any other retirement benefits from the previous government service,
their salaries will be reduced by an amount equal to that pension.

Negative
aspects of the bill:

1. It would grant greater powers to the
   centre as everything will be decided by the government. Thus, the neutrality of
   information commissioners would be crippled and make information commissioners
   “More Loyal” to the government. They will behave like the employees of the government
   and if they so wish, they can decide to withhold information that can support
   the government.
2. The original act had defined terms
   tenures, salaries, appointment, etc. The amendment is viewed as the tenure,
   salaries, appointment to be decided on a case to case basis by the government.
3. The proposed amendment diminishes the
   status of the CIC, SCIC and IC from that of the Supreme Court Judge and thus,
   this would lower their authority to issue the directives to the senior government
   officers.
4. The proposed amendment would adversely
   affect the independence of the CIC, SCIC and ICs as the Centre will now have
   the authority to decide the tenure, terms and salaries of these officials. Thus,
   this is a threat to independence.
5. The proposed bill was introduced and
   passed without the public consultation which hampers the citizens’ right to
   information as a public consultation is necessary for laws to become successful
   and drafting of the legislation cannot be left to the elected representatives
   alone.
6. On issues like NPAs, demonetisation,
   RBI, etc., the information commission got the government to reveal significant
   information- something it can do only if it has both authority and
   independence.
7. It appears as an effort to bring the
   Central Information Commission under the absolute control of the central
   government. The CIC and ICs deal with huge vested interests, especially in the
   senior bureaucracy. It is important for them to be independent.
8. This amendment will take away the
   transparency as it will empower the central government to unilaterally decide which
   will fundamentally weaken the whole basic idea and structure of the RTI.

Government’s justification in bringing
the amendment to the act:

1. The government claims that the
   equivalence drawn between the Election Commission of India and the Central
   & State Information Commissioners are flawed through these amendments. It attempts
   to streamline and reinforce the Act, and also bringing greater transparency.
2. The Election Commission of India is a constitutional
   body established under Article 324 of the Constitution of India while on the
   other hand Central and State Information Commissioners are the statutory bodies
   established under the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005. Thus, their status needs
   to be rationalized accordingly.
3. CIC has been given equal status as that
   of the Judge of the Supreme Court, but the judgments of the CIC can be
   challenged in the High Courts.
4. These amendments are brought to
   strengthen the overall RTI structure.

Conclusion:

The main aim
of the RTI Act, 2005 which was to promote transparency, accountability in the
working of every public authority and the citizens’ right to secure the access
to information is being crippled by this amendment bill, 2019. This is an
attempt to take away the free flow of unbiased information and place before the
general public, the filtered information by the public authorities in order to
please the government. The government has weakened the sunshine law without providing any
credible rationale for bringing an amendment as this
will definitely
hamper the independent working of the Information Commissioners. They are now
no more vested with the independence, transparency, status and authority but
will now be functioning as one of the departments answerable ultimately to the central
government.

Contributed By – Simran Tandon & Anshu Singh
Designation – Associate

[1]
Feb 15, 2019