Arunachal Assembly forms panel for recommending amendments to RTI Act to check misuse

Itanagar, March 15 (PTI): The Arunachal Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday constituted a three-member committee to make an in-depth study of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and recommend amendments to the law, which would be sent to the Centre for acceptance.

Senior Congress member Ninong Ering, during a short duration discussion, claimed that the RTI Act is being misused by a section of the people in the state for their personal gain and requested the government to amend the Act to check that practice.

In response, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said that as the Act was enacted by Parliament in 2005, replacing the Freedom of Information Act of 2002, the state government has no say on its amendment.

Khandu, however, suggested forming the panel, which was approved by Deputy Speaker Tesam Pongte who was in the chair.

It was decided that the committee will be headed by Ering while BJP member Kento Jini and NPP MLA Tarin Dakpe will be its members.

The panel would discuss with various stakeholders including officials from the law department and submit its recommendations to the state government for taking them up in the next session of the assembly before forwarding them to the Centre.

Khandu informed the assembly that the State Information Commission was set up on August 8, 2006, and since then as many as 2,933 cases were registered out of which 2,433 are pending.

There are lacunae in the system. If we are clean, why should we be afraid of providing information? If we are sincere, even after sharing information, the RTI activists cannot misuse it, Khandu said.

Ering, while raising the issue, claimed that a major chunk of people in the state use the RTI Act as a tool to gain personal benefits through blackmailing of officers and he suggested that the intention of the RTI applicants be scrutinised.

We have to make the Act strong but it does not mean that it becomes a right to income. RTI should not be misused as a tool to halt development, Ering said.

Several members who took part in the discussion termed the law as Right to Income Act’ and urged the government to form an appropriate mechanism to check its misuse.

The members also suggested enhancing the fee for RTI applications stating that it would check misuse to a certain extent besides identifying the gravity of the cases for quick disposal.