Ramesh urges govt to repeal Information Safety Act part that kills RTI regulation

Congress chief Jairam Ramesh on Sunday urged Minister of Electronics and Data Know-how Ashwini Vaishnaw to repeal a piece of the Information Safety Act, 2023 which he claimed “destroys” the RTI Act, 2005.

In a letter to Vaishnaw, Ramesh mentioned Part 44 (3) of the Information Safety Act, 2023 seeks to substitute clause j (info which pertains to private info) in sub-section (1) of part 8 of the Proper to Data Act, 2005.

He additional mentioned that all the things within the sub-section will get deleted because of the change, together with the proviso which acknowledged that “supplied that the knowledge which can’t be denied to the Parliament or a state legislature shall not be denied to any particular person”.

“The Proviso in Part 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005 that provides residents equal proper to info as legislators who symbolize them is completely eradicated,” Ramesh mentioned.

The present Part 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005 had sufficient guardrails to guard unwarranted invasion of privateness, he argued in his letter.

“Within the pursuits of transparency and accountability, I’d urge you to pause, evaluate and repeal Part 44 (3) of the Information Safety Act, 2023 which destroys the RTI ACT, 2005,” Ramesh mentioned in his letter to Vaishnaw.