RIGHT TO INFORMATION


After the drama starting with foot-dragging in appointing information commissioners, followed by the Right to Information (RTI) activists petitioning to the Supreme Court, which, in turn; ordered the Central and various state governments to appoint them in a transparent manner and within the...

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The Pune regional office of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recently raided Oxymist, a private mineral water bottling company at Bhosari in Pune, on a complaint by an activist, who found fungus in a water bottle.    However, there was no further action after the raids and the...

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IANS 31 January 2020
Government that jeopardises the independence of Information Commissioners," said the plea filed by Ramesh, who is also a Rajya Sabha member.   The plea, filed through advocate Sunil Fernandes, also contends that assuming the RTI Amendment Act merely delegated rule-making power to the...

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Could you believe that despite the Central Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 having come into effect after the abrogation of Article 370, the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)’s Public Service Commission (JKPSC), early this January has actually returned an application along with the postal fee of...

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Recently, there was a query filed under Right to Information (RTI) Act, to the ministry of home affairs (MHA) seeking the names of the `tukde tukde gang’.   This was in the backdrop of a public speech by Home Minister Amit Shah on 26 December...

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The retirement date of Chief Information Commissioner Sudhir Bhargava was crystal clear. He vacated his post on 11 January 2020, leaving behind a burden of 34,500 pending second appeals. Yet, once again, the government is determined to take its own sweet time to appoint a new chief at the...

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In a landmark order last week, the Central Information Commissioner (CIC) has asked four public authorities – the Reserve Bank of India (RBI); State Bank of India (SBI); the Election Commission of India (ECI) and; the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) to provide names of individuals and...

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Moneylife Digital Team 08 January 2020
Recently, Right to Information (RTI) activist Yashwant Shinde had submitted a complaint to the Mumbai’s Commissioner of Police, alleging that he was assaulted by the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (zone III) inside the cabin when he went for hearing in his first appeal.   In his...

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Moneylife Digital Team 08 January 2020
In a historic decision, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked the government to reveal names of entities that have requested secrecy of donors identities in the electoral bond scheme.   Coming down heavily on the central public information officers (CPIOs) of the...

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While protests are still simmering with the chorus of “Hum kagaz nahi dikhayenge” (We won’t show you the papers) against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), leading social reformer and Right to Information (RTI) activist who pioneered the...

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Even though the Central government’s statement in the Lok Sabha at the close of the year 2018 came, loud and clear, that there is “no specific information that the Right to Information (RTI) Act is being misused” and that there are enough inbuilt clauses for denial of information within the...

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On 18 December 2019 the Supreme Court has given a very concise and brief order saying “Upon hearing the counsel the court made the following order, inspection reports and risk assessment reports or annual financial inspection reports of the banks including State Bank of India (SBI) shall not...

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Abhimanyu Panda, a leading RTI activist of Odisha was shot and killed at his home in the Baliguda town of Kandamal district, ironically on 10th December, commemorated as the International Human Rights Day. As per the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI)’s `Hall of...

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In a recent Right to Information (RTI) related case filed by Anjali Bhardwaj, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is reported to have said on 16 December 2019: “We are not against the right to information. But there is a need for guidelines. It cannot be an unbridled right.”    It has...

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Moneylife Digital Team 16 December 2019
Flagging 'fear' and 'abuse of Right to Information (RTI) Act' by vested interests that has potential to lead to blackmail and extortion, the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday observed that there is a need for certain guidelines and safeguards for providing information under the Act. However, as it...

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Moneylife Digital Team 11 December 2019
In a major boost to transparency, the Bombay High Court recently held that the Right to Information (RTI) is an implicit and an inbuilt Right under Freedom of Speech and Expression as declared under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. While making this observation, the Court...

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While union home minister Amit Shah categorically stated in the Parliament that all is normal in Kashmir, information that comes under the mandatory Section 4 of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, pertaining to the ban on mobile and internet services has been denied.   Jammu-based...

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As many as 375 Right to Information (RTI) applications have been filed in the past four months with public authorities of Aadhaar, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), police stations (where crimes of hate and mob lynching have been registered), mining and the...

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Moneylife Digital Team 03 December 2019
Although the government has advised the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to subject itself and its subsidiaries to the RBI Act, it continues to dodge the transparency law.    It was in this year, vide letters dated 10th July and 11 July 2019 that NDDB was asked to submit itself...

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While most information commissioners and Central and state chief information commissioners are hanging on to the government babu system of functioning, journalist turned information commissioner of Madhya Pradesh, Rahul Singh is creating waves as he interacts with appellants of second appeals...

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