Govt taking revenge on RTI as it exposed their false claims: Jairam Ramesh

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday alleged that the government was bringing amendments in the Right to Information Act to take revenge on institutions as it exposes the "false claims" of the government.

Participating in the debate in the Rajya Sabha on the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, Ramesh also cited five reasons behind the government's move to "dilute" the Act.

He also raised questions on the timing of bringing the amendments to the Bill which mandates timely response to citizen requests for government information.

"The timing of the amendment is not so innocuous and innocent. There are five cases that have propelled the government to bring these amendments," he said noting five orders of Central Information Commissioner including on Prime Minister Modi's educational qualification.

He said between 2003 and 2013, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat (Narendra Modi) would come to the Planning Commission and the body would ask him uncomfortable questions on the state of health and education in Gujarat.

"In 2014 the CM of Gujarat who became PM of India had his revenge and abolished the Planning Commission. Today, Prime Minister of India is taking his revenge with for these five cases," he said.

The Five cases he mentioned to strengthen his case were CIC's order on disclosure of Prime Minister's educational qualification, false claims made by the Prime Minister on bogus ration cards, CIC's revelation on demonetisation that RBI disapproved it, the then RBI Raghuram Rajan giving the list of top NPA defaulters and value of black money brought back from abroad.

"These are the embarrassing cases for the government. The case about his educational qualification in Delhi Court. The Prime Minister has claimed four crore bogus ration cards were weeded out by his government whereas the RTI shows that the number of bogus rations cards was actually 2.3 crore," he said.

"The CIC directed the Prime Minister office about the quantum of black money brought back from abroad. The PMO refused to share the details despite CIC order," he added.

The former union minister said that the real reason for the amendments in the Bill was to make the CIC "toothless" and to convert the information body to "Prime Minister office directed body".

He also accused the government of giving misleading statements regarding its claim of strengthening the RTI Act and the CIC.

He also appealed to all the regional parties to stand against the Bill as the amendments were not in essence of cooperative federalism.