Govt misleading people on RTI Act: Kejriwal

The RTI Act, in its original form, gave access to file notings on all issues except those of national security.

Government is misleading the people by claiming that the proposed amendments to the Right to Information law would strengthen it, says Magasaysay Award winner Arvind Kejriwal.

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The RTI Act, in its original form, gave access to file notings on all issues except those of national security and the recent Cabinet decision to keep file notings away from the purview of the legislation was a retrograde step, he said.

"The government move will kill the law, which has emerged as a powerful tool in curbing corruption," he said in an interview.

Kejriwal, the founder of people's movement 'Parivartan', said he himself had accessed and acquired several official documents, including file notings from various government departments.

The Prime Minister's Office had last week said the Cabinet decision had for the first time made disclosure of file notings possible.

It had said that the amendments would allow access to "file notings of all plans, schemes and programmes of the government that relate to development and social issues".

"The government is misleading the people by saying it is making available access to file notings for the first time," he said showing photocopies of a bulk of such documents acquired from the Planning Commission earlier.