Jammu: A protest was Sunday held here against the amendment of rules relating to Right to Information, carried out recently by the state government.
The protesters, among them various civil society organisations and supporters of RTI, claimed that the step was taken to weaken the State Information Commission (SIC) and other institutions of transparency.
"This is yet another attempt of the state government in curtailing the people`s rights.
"It showcases the callous and apathetic attitude of the government`s top brass besides their adamant nature in making RTI regime and RTI institution toothless after successfully delving at making other vital accountability and transparency institutions defunct," Balvinder Singh, convenor of Sangrash RTI movement, one of the participants, alleged.
Raising slogans like `Don`t Kill RTI` and `Don`t Push J&K back to Monarchy,` the protesters demanded the revocation of the new rules and asked the state government to strengthen SIC and other institutions of transparency.
The government has earlier said it has amended the J&K Right to Information Rules-2010 to remove anomalies in the execution of the Act and bring it at par with the central RTI Act, 2005.
PTI
