Amending RTI act will end Independence of information commissions, says Delhi CM Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday opposed the Centre’s move to amend the RTI Act, alleging that it will end the independence of central and states information commissions.

Kejriwal, who had actively worked for implementation of the Right to Information Act before coming into politics, said the decision to amend the RTI Act was a “bad move”.

On Friday, the Centre introduced a bill in Lok Sabha to amend the RTI Act, seeking to give the government powers to fix salaries, tenures and other terms and conditions of employment of information commissioners.

However, transparency activists have slammed the government’s move to amend the Act to take away statutory parity of Information Commissioners with Election Commissioners in terms of tenure and service conditions, saying it is an attack on the independence of the panel.