Senior BJD leader and Kendrapada MP Baijayant Panda in a letter to the lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has suggested that the proposed RTI Amendment Bill – 2013 should not be passed in a hurry. “It needs to be sent to an appropriate Parliamentary Standing Committee for detail deliberation followed by a thorough discussion in Parliament,” he said.
In regard to including political parties under RTI, Panda opined that the appropriate constitutional body is the Election Commission, whose power needs to be enhanced to enforce political transparency with regard to funding and expenditure of parties.