An attempt by government to move a bill, which seeks to keep political parties out of the ambit of transparency law, in the Lok Sabha was today scuttled by some Opposition members who wanted it to be taken up at a later date.
When the House was discussing measures taken for relief and reconstruction in the wake of natural disaster in Uttarakhand, Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy rose to bring up the RTI (Amendment) Bill, 2013 for consideration.
Before he brought the bill for consideration, Narayanasamy and Leader of the House Sushilkumar Shinde walked to Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj apparently to discuss the bill.
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When the minister was reading out the objectives of the bill, M Thambidurai (AIADMK) opposed the move saying since it was an important bill, it should only be brought when more members are present. AIADMK members then rushed to the Well.
Thambidurai said since the House was discussing Uttrakhand tragedy, most of the members had left for the day.
He was supported by Dinesh Trivedi (Trinamool) and Nama Nageshwar Rao (TDP) among others.
Satpal Maharaj, who was in the Chair, agreed to the demand and the discussion on Uttarakhand continued.
The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2013 was introduced in Lok Sabha on August 12. It seeks to keep political parties out of the ambit of the transparency law, saying they are an association of individuals and not public authorities. It also seeks to negate a CIC ruling in this regard.
The CIC had ruled that Congress, BJP, BSP, NCP, CPI and CPI-M are political authorities.
Since the CIC order on six major political parties came on June 3, the amended Act will come into force with retrospective effect from June.
