The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (“the Bill”) was passed by the Lok Sabha on 22.7.2019 and by the Rajya Sabha on 25.7.2019. The Bill has received President’s assent and has become the RTI Amendment Act, 2019 dated 1.8.2019. The Department of Personnel and Training has also notified the RTI (Term of Office, Salaries, Allowances and Other terms and Conditions of Service of Central/State Information Commissioner) Rules-2019 in this regard on 24.10.2019.
Amendments proposed in the Bill:
| Sl. No. | Existing Section of the RTI Act | Proposed amendment |
| 1. | The Chief Information Commissioner and the Information Commissioner shall hold office for a term of five years…….[Section 13 (1) and (2)] | Central Government will prescribe the term of office of the Central Chief Information Commissioner and the Central Information Commissioner. |
| 2. | The salaries and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of service of— (a) the Chief Information Commissioner shall be the same as that of the Chief Election Commissioner; (b) an Information Commissioner shall be the same as that of an Election Commissioner [Section 13 (5)]. The salaries and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of service of— (a) the State Chief Information Commissioner shall be the same as that of the Election Commissioner; (b) the State Information Commissioner shall be the same as that of a Chief Secretary to the State Government. [Section 16 (5)]. | Central Government will prescribe the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of the Central and State Chief Information Commissioner and other Information Commissioners. |
| 3. | If the central and State Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners are receiving pension or any other retirement benefit, their salaries would be reduced by an amount equal to the pension and other retirement benefits[Proviso to Section 13 (5) and Section 16(5)] | Provisos to be deleted in both Section 13(5) and Section 16(5). |
| 4 | The appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act…. In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:— [Section 27(1) and (2)] | In section 27 (2), after clause (c), the following clauses will be inserted:— “(ca) the term of office of the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners under sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 13 and the State Chief Information Commissioner and State Information Commissioners under sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 16; (cb) the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service of the Chief Information Commissioner and the Information Commissioners under sub-section (5) of section 13 and the State Chief Information Commissioner and the State Information Commissioners under sub-section (5) of section 16;”. |
Implications of the amendments:
1.The term of office of the Central Chief Information Commissioner and the Central Information Commissioner will now be determined by the Central Government and unlike the fixed term of 5 years which the RTI Act presently prescribes, the term of office of the Information Commissioners can now be set by the Central Government at any period and under Section 27 of the RTI Act, it can also make Rules in this regard.
2.The Central Government will now prescribe the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of the Central and State Chief Information Commissioner and other Information Commissioners. Their salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service instead of being that of the Chief Election Commissioner, Election Commissioner and the State Chief Secretary can now be set at any level and under Section 27 of the RTI Act, the Central Government can also make Rules on this aspect.
The Bill has stirred the hornet’s nest:
The number of amendments proposed are not many but the Bill has stirred the hornet’s nest. It is being alleged that the amendments undermine the autonomy and independence of the Information Commissioners. Media has reported that the social activist Anna Hazare on July 23 accused the Union government of betraying Indian citizens through the move[1], that the citizens protest the bid to dilute Act[2], that the opposition says the RTI Act on brink of extinction[3].
Implications of the amendments-A short analysis:
The Central Information Commissioners constituting the Central Information Commission and the State Information Commissioners constituting the State Information Commissions play a very vital role in the scheme of the RTI Act. The proposed amendments do appear to take some sheen off the post of the Chief Information Commissioner/Information Commissioner, lower their present stature as their salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service will no longer be equivalent to that of the Chief Election Commissioner/ Election Commissioner and they will have to do with a term which would be fixed by the Central Government through a notification.
Their role and responsibilities, appellate powers, procedure for appointment and removal however, have not been changed. The practical ramifications of the amendments in the context of the autonomy and independence of the Information Commissioners in their day to day workings will become clear only when instances of citizens/public authorities disregarding or disobeying the CIC/SIC due to these amendments come to light. However, State Governments will no longer be able to fix the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of the State Chief Information Commissioner and State Information Commissioners as the powers to do so now vest with Central Government.
[1]Source:https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/modi-govt-has-betrayed-people-anna-hazare-on-rti-act-changes-4238201.html]
[2]Source:https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/citizens-protest-bid-to-dilute-rti-act/article28693176.ece
[3]Source:https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/opposition-says-rti-act-on-brink-of-extinction-1572788-2019-07-24
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