Right to Information 2005- Effect of 2019 Amendment in this Act

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Right to Information Act, 2005 was introduced in India as a fundamental right of a person to gain information from government bodies and it replaced Freedom of Information Act, 2002. Under this Act, a public authority has to disclose certain information upon the request of a person unless the public authority has some compelling reason of not doing so. RTI has decreased corruption and mismanagement by introducing transparency and accountability. 

As per RTI Act, any Indian citizen can ask for information from any state/central office and such authority has to disclose such information within 30 days from the date of application. There is only one exception that the information sought from the government authority should not relate to defence, personal details or national security. The process for applying for RTI can be done online and offline. RTI India has an official website named "https://rtionline.gov.in/" wherein an online application can be filed by paying a nominal fee. RTI Act, 2005 has state and central information commission wherein information commissioners are placed out of whom one of them is the Chief Information Commissioner ("CIC"). Whenever a person files an RTI and does not get a response then he can approach these information commissioners. They can go to the public authority where RTI is filed and order them to disclose information.  

The RTI Amendment Act 2019 has introduced a change in tenure and salaries of the information commissioner according to the Central Government. The tenure for CIC and Information Commissioners which earlier was for 5 years has now changed to "such term as may be prescribed by the Government". The salaries and allowances are also as prescribed by the Central Government. Information to be disclosed has also be reduced which is under the control of the Central Government. This amendment effectively brings the CIC and IC under the Central Government's control and will have a negative impact on their independence.

This recent amendment is the main obstacle in free disclosure of information related to Government authorities. The independence of CIC and IC has be reduced to reporting everything to the Government which quite the opposite of the purpose of introducing RTI Act, 2005. This amendment is powerless against the Central Government and the CIC and IC are nothing but toothless tigers. These commissioners are puppets in the hands of the Central Government under this 2019 amendment which has taken away the independence of information commissioners.

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