Source: Times News Network, Times of India 

 

The government's bid to push through its controversial file notings   amendment in the current session of parliament may be foiled by Opposition as well as Left parties. V K Malhotra, spokesperson of BJP's parliamentary wing, told TOI that despite its silence on the proposed changes to the Right to Information Act, the party would in any event demand that the bill be referred to a standing committee before it was considered by the two Houses.

"Not a single line of any law can be changed without proper scrutiny by the standing committee,'' Malhotra said, claiming that the only reason BJP had not commented on the file notings issue was that the government had not so far circulated the bill among MPs.

Such a formality did not, however, stop CPM from coming out against the sudden move to reduce access to file notings under the RTI Act. CPM leaders were content to go by the draft released by PM Manmohan Singh in his letters to his predecessor V P Singh and social activist Anna Hazare.

Brinda Karat is, in fact, the first political leader to have condemned the bill. Addressing an RTI meeting in south Delhi on Friday, Karat said: "There is no way that the government can pass this bill without our support. We have decided that the Act should not be tampered with.'' Karat broke the ice the very day personnel and parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Pachauri announced inparliament that the government business for the week commencing August 14 included consideration and passing of the RTI amendment bill. For all theurgency displayed by the government, the chances of the bill being passed in itsexisting form in the current session seem remote. This is especially because CPMand CPI leaders are set to join the ongoing dharna at Jantar Mantar on Mondaymorning and express their solidarity with RTI activist and Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey who has been on fast since August 8.

Much to the government's embarrassment, O P Kejariwal, one of the members of the RTI regulator, Central Information Commission, had called on Pandey last week as a mark of protest against the bill, which effectively rolls back the CIC's ruling in January that file notings are accessible under the RTI Act.

Kejariwal's symbolic gesture came on top of a sensation created by the officers' association of SAIL, which broke ranks with the bureaucracy and issued a statement criticising the government's move to dilute the RTI. The sustained campaign by civil society for over 20 days has begun to elicit response from sections of the bureaucracy and political class, making it that much harder for the government to get away with its claim that the proposed amendments would promote even greater transparency.