Strongly opposing the Union Cabinet’s decision to keep political parties out of the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act by amending it, civil society members of various organisations on Tuesday held a signature campaign here appealing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to go ahead with the move.
“There is no urgency to amend the transparency law. The decision was made in great haste. Amending the Act by keeping political parties out of its ambit will lead to corruption which is detrimental to democracy. Hence, we strongly oppose the Union Government’s move,” said rights activist Pradip Pradhan.
“It is seen that the Cabinet has approved the proposal for amendments to the RTl law, as a sharp reaction to the recent Central Information Commission order, which declared six political parties to be public authorities under the RTI Act.
We urge the Union Government not to go for the amendment. If there is any objection to a specific order, the Government should seek justice in the court of law. But the move to amend the Act will reinforce and confirm the suspicions of many that the political establishment intends to cover acts of corruption and arbitrary use of power,” said Pradhan.