The move has been criticised by activists who said it will affect independence and neutrality of the transparency panel.
The government will Friday introduce a bill to amend the RTI Act which will change pay and allowances of information commissioners, who currently enjoy benefits equivalent to election commissioners.
The move has been criticised by activists who said it will affect independence and neutrality of the transparency panel.
The bill proposes to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005 so as to provide that the term of office of, and the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service of, the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners and the State Chief Information Commissioner and the State Information Commissioners, “shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central Government.”
The proposed bill dated July 15 has been circulated among the members of Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh.
It will be introduced Friday, a highly placed official said.
It states that term of offices, salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions shall be “as prescribed by the Central Government”.
In the present form Section 13 (5) of the Right to Information Act provides that the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of the service of the Chief Information Commissioner shall be the same as that of the Chief Election Commissioner while that of an Information Commissioner shall be same as that of an Election Commissioner.
Source: Economic Times
