24.7.19

Opposition Wants RTI Bill be Sent to Select Panel

A day after the Lok Sabha passed Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, the opposition has united in Rajya Sabha to demand the draft bill be referred to a select committee for scrutiny.

Congress, TMC, BJD, Samajwadi Party, BSP, DMK, Left Front, NCP and Indian Union Muslim League have joined hands in the upper house to demand sending the bill to a select committee. The opposition parties met on Tuesday morning and decided to have a common floor strategy and push the government, which is outnumbered in Rajya Sabha.

“The opposition parties have decided to move a motion to refer the bill to a select committee,” Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’ Brien said.

DMK’s Tiruchi Siva said, “The bill cannot be passed without any scrutiny. It will have to go to a select committee.”

Opposition parties are individually moving amendments to the draft, seeking deletion of the three amendments. The government has introduced amendments to Sections 13, 16 and 27 of the RTI Act.

With the amendments, the government has given itself powers to determine before each appointment how long the information commissioner can be in service.

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