Petition to
the Leader of the Opposition
Dear Sir,
Sub: An appeal to save Indian democracy.
We are appalled to learn that the Cabinet has approved an amendment to exempt file notings and cabinet papers from disclosure under the Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005.
In the last few years RTI has emerged as a very effective tool in the hands of the common man to check corruption, fight injustice and make governance transparent. The proposed amendments would make RTI in-effective. This will prevent people from knowing why a particular decision was taken and who said what in that decision making process. It will prevent people from knowing why no action was taken on their applications and who the guilty officials were. In effect, the Government will end up protecting the corrupt and dishonest officials.
Mr O P Kejariwal, Member Central Information Commission, recently said that "Information minus the file notings amount to taking the life out of the RTI Act".
The Act is just 10 months old. The Government should have given at least a few years before attempting to amend it. Nine state governments have RTI Acts for the last seven years or more. File notings were being given under those Acts. No bureaucrat in any of these states felt threatened the way bureaucrats working in the Central Government seem to be feeling.
We request you to make every effort to save this right from being mutilated. We have decided that we will not vote for our sitting MPs if he/she did not vote against the amendment bill in the Parliament.
Sincerely,