Civil society wants no dilution of RTI

The civil society had rejected any government move to amend the Right To Information Act without thorough public consultation and wanted laws for grievance redress law and whistleblower protection.

The civil society had rejected any government move to amend the Right To Information Act without thorough public consultation and wanted laws for grievance redress law and whistleblower protection.

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In a set of resolutions passed after a two-day national convention under the aegis of National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI), the civil society groups also said that any private body mandated to deliver public services should come under the ambit of the proposed grievance redress bill.

The NCPRI also wanted that the grievance redressal mechanism should be decentralised to deal with petty corruption at the lower level of bureaucracy.

"Non-performance by a state functionary is equivalent to corruption, and both need reparative and punitive action," said Shekhar Singh of NCPRI, while exhorting people to demand their due from the government instead of being resigned to half-measures.

The civil society also resolved that the draft bills on Grievance Redress and Whistleblower Protection should be placed in public domain for widespread public consultation. The definition of whistleblowing must be expanded beyond institutional and economic corruption to include injustice and arbitrary use of power.