Fact Check: How true are some of the Government’s statements on RTI? - Part 2

As per the RTI Act, the leader of the single largest group in the opposition of the Government will be deemed as the Leader of Opposition. Thus, this claim is also FALSE.

Claim: Since the Congress did not get the Leader of Opposition status, the NDA Government let the leader of the single largest group in the opposition a member of the selection committee of the Information Commissioners.

Fact: It is already been mentioned in the RTI Act, 2005 that in case there is no Leader of Opposition recognised in the Lok Sabha (Legislative Assembly in case of State Level),
the leader of the single largest group in the opposition of the Government will be deemed as the Leader of Opposition. Thus, this claim is also FALSE.

Did the NDA government let the leader of the single largest group in the opposition in the selection committee?

The minister also claimed that since the Congress did not get the Leader of Opposition status, the NDA Government let the leader of the single largest group in the opposition a member of the selection committee of the Information Commissioners.

While accusing the opposition for having made a clumsy RTI Act, the minister claimed that it was the NDA government that included the leader of the single largest group in the opposition in the selection commit though the Congress did not have the Leader of Opposition status. But a glimpse into the RTI Act, as it was passed in 2005 reveals the following.

In Section 12 of the Right To Information Act, 2005, Paragraph 3 clearly states that ‘The Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee consisting of—

(i) the Prime Minister, who shall be the Chairperson of the committee;

(ii) the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha; and

(iii) a Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister ’

In order to clarify who the leader of opposition will be, there is a small explanation given after this stating that in circumstances where there is no clear recognition of the Opposition Leader in the Lok Sabha, the leader of the single largest group of the opposition of the government will be considered the Leader of Opposition.

At the State Level, Paragraph 3 of Section 15 states that ‘The State Chief Information Commissioner and the State Information Commissioners shall be appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of a committee consisting of—

(i) the Chief Minister, who shall be the Chairperson of the committee;

(ii) the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly; and

(iii) a Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Chief Minister’

An explanation regarding the leader of the opposition to ward off doubts has been given. Here, if the Leader of Opposition has not been recognised in the Legislative Assembly, the Leader of the single largest group in opposition of the Government in the Legislative Assembly will be considered the Leader of Opposition here.

In other words, the original act itself contains the details pertaining to the selection committee and as demonstrated above, it is evident that the NDA Government had no choice but to include Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha during 2014-19 in the selection committee. The NDA government hasn’t done anything that is not there in the act.