The Union Cabinet is expected to take up the revamped Right to Information Act tomorrow. This, after Congress president Sonia Gandhi was informed this evening about at least one set of important omissions in the draft sent by the National Advisory Council (NAC) to the Government.While a vast majority of the 36 amendments made by the NAC in the 2002 statute — which was passed by both houses of Parliament but not notified — have been incorporated in the draft being sent to Cabinet, the provision of security and intelligence agencies — disclosing details of any human rights violations or corruption — has reportedly been dropped.When contacted, Aruna Roy, the NAC member who has been campaigning for givng the Right to Information (RTI) Act more teeth confirmed that some NAC members held a meeting with Sonia on the issue. ‘‘While we are very happy that a majority of the amendments are coming through — in our view this is a crucial omission, especially in the light of what has happened in Manipur.’’Department of Personnel and Training officals say that they — after the committment given by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — worked overtime to get the final draft ready for the Cabinet. Over the last two days, the Law Ministry clarified that the proposed Act could only be exercised in states under the residual powers of the Centre. Also, that in states where the RTI Act already exists, the applicant will have the right to seek a piece of information either under the Central Act or under that implemented by the state government.Some other last-minute alterations have also been made in the draft of the RTI 2004 which was sent to the NAC a few days ago. While the crucial recommendation of establishment of autonomous information commissioners has been encorporated in the Draft Act, the proposal now is to call the officers information commissioners at the Centre and deputy information commissioners at the states.Also, a limit of a maximum of Rs 25,000 has been put on the penalty proposed to be put on officers who deny or provide wrong information to an applicant. The clause of punishment of imprisonment upto five years for such action remains the same.After clearence from the Cabinet, the Government proposes to repeal the RTI 2002 and present the redrafted 2004 Act in the current session of Parliament, after which a Standing Committee of Parliament may examine it.
