[Reader-list] Govt. seeks to amend/cripple RTI Act

[diya at sarai.net]

Govt gives in to babus, cripples RTI
ALOKE Tikku
New Delhi, July 20

File notings put out of bounds, as sought by bureaucrats; activists say it
will ‘take life out of the law’

THE CABINET on Thursday gave its nod to an amendment to restrict access to
file notings under the Right to Information law, a move that RTI activists
say has the potential to practically kill the infant law.

"It'll take the entire life out of the law; it's unfortunate," said O.P.
Kejriwal, member, Central Information Commission (CIC).

Corruption can only be detected in file notings — records of the
government's decision-making process. Without them, it will never be
revealed who took the decision and on what grounds.

The bureaucracy had been quietly pushing the amendment since last year,
determined to pull back the iron curtain lifted by the RTI Act when it came
into force in October. So quietly that when HT reported the controversial
plan in April, RTI activists criticised the plan but hinted that the
political leadership would not take the "retrograde" step within months of
enacting the law.

On Thursday, the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh caught
them off-guard, permitting access to file notings only on plans, schemes,
programmes and projects that relate to development and social issues.

Earlier, the bureaucracy had interpreted the existing provisions to have
barred access to file notings. The CIC had, however, rejected this view.

Restricting access to file notings implies that under the RTI law citizens
can at best seek what decisions were taken —almost never why.

This is why Aruna Roy — among the ones who started the 'right to
information' campaign a decade ago — says the government has bowed to
pressure from the bureaucracy and the people in power.

She said if the amendment was carried through Parliament, "it'll give
protection to corruption and the arbitrary use of power. Both these things
can be understood in total only if you look at the way decisions are being
made."

The government had sought to take away half of what it gave a year ago, she
said, pledging to "fight every inch" to prevent the cabinet decision from
getting parliamentary approval.