Congress hits out at government over RTI proposal

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday hit out at the Central government for proposing to dilute the provisions of the Right to Information Act, which was legislated by the UPA government. The new draft rules, which have been put out in the public space, have elicited a sharp response from the grand old party. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said “ On the face of it, the rules look extremely innocuous but the devil lies in the detail. It is the final print which gives away the intent of the government which has decided to formalise the process of subverting the RTI.”

The Congress further said that in the draft rules, the RTI applications will be restricted to only 500 words. Then there will be an increase of 100% in fee which is required to file a RTI application, furthermore it has to be double spaced and type written also. Also, if the applicant dies, then the RTI application will not be entertained. According to the Congress, this will further increase attacks on RTI activists.

“Also, if you file an RTI application, you are not happy with the outcome, you file an appeal. Now, the authority, who has rejected your application, will be allowed to file a counter to that, which means that the whole process becomes more contested,” he said.  “It is the responsibility of all progressive forces, these rules must be opposed,” Mr Tewari said and absolutely no dilution should be allowed in the entire RTI structure.” Since the parliament is in session currently the Congress is planning to build opposition unity on the proposal to dilute the RTI. This will ensure that a combined opposition can corner the government on the issue