Aruna Roy, Harsh Mander oppose move to amend RTI Act

Right to Information (RTI) activists today opposed the Union Cabinet's decision to keep political parties out of the ambit of the Right To Information Act by amending the transparency law.
"The decision was made in a great haste. Amending the RTI Act by keeping political parties out of its ambit will lead to corruption which is detrimental to democracy," said social activist Aruna Roy who spearheaded the Right to Information Act movement through National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI).
On June 3, the Central Information Commission (CIC) had passed an order to bring six national political parties under the RTI Act ambit.

She welcomed the stand of Trinamool Congress and Raghuvansh Prasad of RJD that they do not support any amendment to the RTI Act.
Roy held that political parties need to be empowered for a functional democracy but empowerment does not mean that they are non-transparent and unaccountable.
"The CIC made a very interesting observation. Political parties are like any other public authorities. If political parties were happy, they should have gone through a legal course. This polarisation is a mockery of transparency," said social activist Harsh Mander.
In a press meet organized by NCPRI, the organisation demanded wide range of consultations and discussions with the civil society before amending the RTI Act.

RTI activists have also written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opposing the proposed amendments to the RTI Act. The letter has been signed by 287 activists and more than 6,000 people.