“Recent amendments to the Right to Information Act will have a profound impact on the autonomy and independence of the Information Commission”. Discuss. (UPSC IAS Mains 2020 General Studies Paper – 2)
The basic objective behind the Right to Information (RTI) Act was to empower the citizens, promote transparency and accountability in the working of the Government, contain corruption, and make our democracy work for the people in real sense.
The recent amendments to the RTI Act
- The Right to Information (Amendment) Act, 2019 has changed the status, salary and tenure of the Central Information Commissioners (CICs) and State Information Commissioners (SICs).
- The original Act prescribed salaries, allowances and other terms ofservice of the state CIC as “the same asthat of an Election Commissioner”, and the salaries and other terms of service of the StateIn formation Commissioners as “the same as that of the Chief Secretary to the State Government”.
- The amendment says that these “shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central Government”. Thus, the Centre now has the powers to decide the salaries, term, and service conditions of CICs and SICs.
It has been argued that the amendments were necessary to correct certain anomalies. For example, the mandate of Election Commission of India and Central and State Information Commissions are non-identical, so should be their status and service conditions.
However, the amendments have the potential to impact the autonomy and independence of the Information Commissions.
- Independent structures set up to regulate and monitor the government are vital to a democratic state committed to delivering justice and constitutional guarantees.
- The amendment allowsthe interference of the executive in the functioning of information commissions which are quasi-judicial bodies. This may affect the doctrine of separation of powers, which underscores this independence and is vital to our democratic checks and balances.
- Apart from this, the amendment also affects the constitutional principles of federalism, as now the Central government can change terms of service of state information commission.
- The amendment hasthe potential to make accessto information difficult. Easy and quick accessto information is vital to ensure the accountability of the representatives and the state.
The 2nd ARC held that RTI is the master key to governance as it checks the misuse and arbitrariness of power and corrupt governance. Therefore, in the pursuit of good governance, the RTI Act requires strengthening of the provisions.
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