The government will accept all amendments prescribed to the Right to Information (RTI) Bill by the Supreme Court, said Deputy Minister of Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media, Karunarathna Paranawithana yesterday. The RTI Bill was submitted to Parliament for its first reading on March 24.
Paranawithana who addressed the cabinet media briefing said ; “after our first submission of the Bill to Parliament, civil society groups petitioned it at the Supreme Court. The Speaker in turn has informed us of the Supreme Court verdict. The Supreme Court had focused its attention on certain paragraphs. They are mostly technical changes and if we make these changes, we can pass the Bill by a simple majority instead of a special majority”.
He added : “we had our technical team look into it and they said that these amendments would only further strengthen the Bill and not weaken it. So we decided to accept them”.
The deputy minister further stated that the Working Committee on the Bill would soon convene to decide on the next best date to resubmit the amended Bill to Parliament.
Informed Sources however speaking to Daily News said that the necessary amendments to the Bill would be made during its Committee Stage debate.
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