Opposition demands RTI Amendment Bill to be sent to Joint Select Committee

After the passage of the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 from the Lok Sabha, the government is finding it difficult to clear the bill from the Rajya Sabha- the Upper House of the Parliament

With 116 members in the Upper House, the Centre is falling short of five members to clear the bill from the Rajya Sabha.

Amid huge protest from the opposition, the bill was passed with 218 members voting in its favour and 79 against it in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The opposition on Wednesday demanded that the RTI amendment bill is sent to the Joint Select Committee.

Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi held discussions on the bill at the party office in Parliament on Wednesday with Rajya Sabha MPs of Congress and other opposition parties.

The meeting was attended by Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma and other leaders of opposition parties.

The 2005 Act was enacted during the first Congress-led UPA government and the alliance's chairperson Sonia Gandhi sat through the debate.

The changes proposed by the government in the RTI bill include the salaries and the tenures of the Infomation Commissioners at the state and the centre.

Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Jitendra Singh said that the Bill only states that terms and conditions will be specified by the government and these had not been deliberated upon.

The minister said it had done away with the need for attestations as also interviews for a certain category of jobs to promote transparency and accountability.

(With inputs from ANI)