Re: [IAC#RG] RTI Act (Amendment) Bill 2013

Hello friends
Thanks and congratulations for waging the fight for a common cause having wide public relevance. Please keep us informed and be in touch with the progress of the steps and initiatives in this regard.
Dr.M.C.GEORGE,ADVOCATE,INFAM(IndianFarmersMovement)National Trustee.
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On Thu, 26/9/13, Sarbajit Roy <sroy.mb@gmail.com> wrote:

Subject: [IAC#RG] RTI Act (Amendment) Bill 2013
To: sahoo.ak@sansad.nic.in, shantaramgoa@gmail.com, rs-cpers@sansad.nic.in, "indiaresists" <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net>
Date: Thursday, 26 September, 2013, 2:02 PM

To:
Joint Secretary (PPG)

Rajya Sabha

26-Sep-2013


BY
EMAIL

Sir

This refers our telecon today.


I am given to understand that the subject Bill is referred
to your Departmental Committee for further consideration.

I am further given to understand that a public
notice inviting comments from affected persons was published
on 21 Sept 2013 in some newspapers, but I could not access
the same as newspapers have become very expensive nowadays
for ordinary citizens, and also thanks to the UPA Govt.
(under directions of  Hon'ble Chairperson UPA) the
citizens like undersigned since 2005 have been used to
getting such relevant information about Govt. free of cost
under the Right to Information over the Internet suo-moto.


It seems, however, that this important
Amendment Bill's public notice has not been uploaded to
website and the last date for responding is also not
specified in Rajya Sabha website. Ordinarily I would be the
last person to attribute any ulterior motives for this
oversight where the aam aadmi is being excluded from
Parliamentary consultative processes by non-disclosure by
the very same authority which passed this beneficial
legislation, but seeing as how this amendment is directly
for the benefit of members of the Houses, I am constrained
to formally protest this curious oversight.


Accordingly, I request you to kindly put it up
to the Honble Committee to extend the date for submitting
comments for at least 15 days after it the public notice is
uploaded to the website.


In any case, in the interim, I wish to submit
on behalf of the National Campaign for Political Reform
in India (NCPRI) and the India Against Corruption
andolan, both movements of which I happen to be the
present National Convenor of, as follows:-


1) That political parties are presently not
public authorities as defined in RTI Act 2005. That the
operative judgment on which the CIC (Central Information
Commission) order of 03-June-2013 is based ie.
"Veeresh Malik versus Indian Olympic
Association" was in the case of the co-convenor of
the above 2 movements, and has been comprehensively
misinterpreted by the CIC.


2) That the CIC decision dt. 03-June-2013 is a mischievous
and legally unsound decision delivered, for extraneous
considerations, by incompetent persons on the verge of
retirement, who were all appointed under an opaque
discretionary process best described as "horse
trading".


3) That there is an urgent need to lay down
proper qualifications and transparent selection procedures
for appointment of Information Commissioners of proven merit
and integrity, so that such kind of corrupt decisions do not
again emanate from the Information Commissions.


4) That the RTI Act 2005 requires to be
urgently amended in a transparent manner after wide public
consultation to sort out many inherent obstacles and grey
areas which are obstructing the citizens from receiving
information. This may include specifically defining therein
that political parties shall be public authority, for
purposes of the RTI Act, along with all private and
semi-public bodies performing public activities.


We may be submitting our detailed submissions
once the public notice is available to us for perusal and
discussed by our nationwide membership.


Our movements would also like to personally
appear before the Hon'ble Committee and make our
presentations in person. We woudl be obliged if you would
kindly place this communication on the record of the
Hon'ble Committee for this Bill.


With best regards

( Er. Sarbajit Roy )

National Convenor : India Against Corruption,
jan andolan

National Convenor : National Campaign for
Political Reform in India

www.indiaagainstcorruption.net.in

www.ncpri.org

Mailing address:
2nd floor, B-59 Defence Colony

New Delhi 110024

Tel : 011-24334262



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