RTI amendment bill passed in Rajya Sabha amid walkout by Cong, oppn

Parliament approved the amendment to the RTI Act, with Rajya Sabha on Thursday passing it after negating an Opposition sponsored motion to send it to a House committee for greater scrutiny.

The motion was negated by 117 members voting against the motion and 75 members voting in favour.

This after high drama in the House over what opposition charged was “intimidation” by the treasury benches to get the motion for sending the amendment to the RTI Act to the Select Committee rejected. Following this, Congress and opposition members walked out of the House in protest.

The bill proposes that the salaries and tenures of Information Commissioners, both at state and central levels be decided by the Centre. The opposition contends that the Centre’s control over their salaries would give it an opportunity to interfere in their decision-making process.

You can't add multiple events in the same post, page or custom post type.