New Delhi, April 28: Chief Information Commissioner
Wajahat Habibullah on Tuesday advocated for changes in the Official
Secrets Act to bring it in conformity with provisions of the
Right To Information Act.
Habibullah while speaking at the PHD Chamber of Commerce
and Industries said, "OSA needs amendment as it's a
contradiction to RTI Act."
The CIC also called for a improvement in the RTI Act as
well saying that at present only "held" information can be
given under the Act, thus other important information like
project delays cannot be asked under the Act.
"The Central Public Information Officer should be an
independent body instead of employees of public authority as
this would bring in more open dissemination of information,"
he said.
Under the RTI Act, every citizen of India can seek any
public information by paying Rs 10, but departments have to
make the system of facilitating this information from within
themselves and not by hiring any additional staff.
"Amend the rules for fee subscription for RTI and make
it uniform for the whole country," Habibullah added.
He also said the commission was looking into the
problems of fee paid by NRIs to seek information under the
RTI Act.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 00:00