Cabinet junks move to curb RTI provisions

The Union Cabinet,which met on Thursday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the chair,decided to withdraw the controversial draft amendments to the Right to Information Act,2005,which,had they been passed in Parliament,would have restricted disclosure of file notings only to social and developmental issues.

In 2006,the Cabinet had given its go-ahead to introduce a Bill in Parliament to amend the RTI Act to exclude public notings on files by officials from being accessed. But the government was forced to re-think the decision after RTI activists opposition to the proposed amendments received the backing of UPA chief Sonia Gandhi. After Thursdays decision,all file notings can be accessed under the RTI Act except those explicitly exempted related to national security,privacy and protection of commercial interest. The Cabinet has decided to withdraw the amendments, said a source.