Allow Cookies!
By using our website, you agree to the use of cookies
Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu sent letter to Chief Information commissioner R.K. Mathur and his fellow Commissioners opposing RTI amendment. In a letter he warned that, “Corrupt government officials will be able to escape public scrutiny if the Right to Information Act, 2005 is amended according to the recommendations of the Justice Srikrishna committee on data protection. “The Right to Information Act will be rendered absolutely useless in securing access to public records pertaining to public servants”.
He declared the amendment as unconstitutional and said that Justice srikrishna panel has not consulted the central Information Commission before its recommendations. The justice Srikrishna panel’s draft on Data protection Bill, 2018 proposed the amendment of section 8 of RTI Act, which provided immunity of disclosure of certain types of personal information. This includes the ‘information which is related to the personal information and has no relation to any public activity or interest is exempted from disclosure as this would unnecessarily invade the privacy of the individual.’ This amendment will expand the scope of denial of information with the widened scope. But actually this amendment will exempt the ‘information which related to personal data which in true sense outweighs the public Interest. This will adversely affect the transparency and accountability in the functioning of the public authority.
Further, Mr. Acharyullu pointed out that, the Bill contains no definitions for “common good”, “promotion”, “transparency”, or even “privacy.”
86540
103860
630
114
59824