All-party meet on Food Security and RTI Amendment Bills today

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The Central Government will hold an all-party meeting today on various issues including Food Security and RTI Amendment Bills.

The meeting called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath at Parliament House will be attended by leaders of various political parties.

The Food Security Bill, which was introduced last week, is currently under consideration of the Lok Sabha.

The RTI Amendment Bill to keep political parties out of the ambit of the RTI Act was introduced in the Lok Sabha yesterday.

The RTI Amendment Bill seeks to insert an explanation in Section 2 of the Act which states that any association or body of individuals registered or recognised as political party under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 will not be considered a public authority.

In June, the Central Information Commission, which ensures the RTI Act is implemented and public queries are answered by government departments, ruled that the six major national parties, including the Congress and BJP are public authorities and must respond to RTI applications. The parties were given six weeks to appoint Public Information Officers (PIOs) to handle RTI requests.

The decision from transparency watchdog evoked sharp reactions from political parties, especially Congress which has been credited with bringing in the transparency law but is opposed to the CIC's directive.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which acts as nodal department for the implementation of the RTI Act, in consultation with Law Ministry had earlier decided to amend the law.