RIGHT TO INFORMATION


Thanks to Section 2(1)(h) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, there have time and again been disagreements and debates on whether or not a private entity falls under this law. That is because the Section defines a 'public authority' as one which is a body owned, controlled or substantially...

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At a petition heard last week by the Supreme Court (SC) regarding the delay in the appointment of information commissioners under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the judges expressed displeasure at the failure of the states to fill vacancies and warned of strict action against...

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Moneylife Digital Team 24 August 2021
“The Right to Information (RTI) law is power disseminated. Information is power and hence disseminating information translates into the dissemination of power and what it has done is, is unpacked those centres of power, centres of impunity, which wreaked havoc and that is rare—something which...

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Remember the case of the illegal boards put up in government offices across Maharashtra, threatening citizens with various and selective Sections from the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in case of misbehaviour towards government servants? Well, the aam aadmis have actually managed to have some of...

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Prof M Sridhar Acharyulu 13 August 2021
In the Saurav Das vs the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) case, the latter, an important public authority at the Centre, was not willing to share very important public information, namely, the information relating to sufficient supply of oxygen.    It is...

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Raja Muzaffar Bhat (The Leaflet) 13 August 2021
Section 6(3) of the RTI Act is intended to save the applicant’s effort and time if the information sought from a public authority is with another department. However, it is being exploited by several officials who refuse to furnish information and forward the application to another department...

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In the second consecutive year, monsoon landslides and flash floods across Raigad, Kolhapur, and Sangli districts, amongst others, have created havoc in terms of human deaths and destruction of property and land. While the cloudburst and climate are definitely part of the problem, activists...

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The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is receiving flak, and rightly so, for the insensitive reply given in the Rajya Sabha on 20th July, by Mansukh Mandaviya, and Dr Bharati Pawar, the newly appointed minister and minister of state, respectively, for health and family welfare,...

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Moneylife Digital Team 19 July 2021
Several banks are now coming together and moving the Supreme Court (SC) to oppose Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) notice for disclosing inspection reports under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Union Bank of India, Canara Bank, Kotak...

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In a second appeal hearing pertaining to the requisition of copies of passports of members of a family, which was earlier rejected by the central public information officer (CPIO) and the first appellate authority (FAA) of the ministry of external affairs (MEA), chief information commissioner...

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The Supreme Court once again directed the Union government as well as the states to file affidavits on the status of appointments of information commissioners under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, as governments have frequently been in defiance of the apex court’s earlier orders, leading...

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The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre and state governments to file the latest status report on the filling up of vacancies in the central information commission (CIC) and the State information commissions (SICs).                   A bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer and...

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Shivanand Dwivedi, a resident of village Kaytha in Madhya Pradesh, would never have imagined that his right to information (RTI) application requesting information on the affidavit of candidates contesting panchayat elections would be the trigger for a landmark order by the tenacious...

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Moneylife Digital Team 01 July 2021
When it comes to sharing information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, not only the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) but even banks are approaching and challenging orders issued by the Supreme Court in the apex court itself. Add to this, the central information commission (CIC) that is...

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In what can be termed as contempt of the Madras High Court order in early May, directing the central information commission (CIC) and state information commissions to spare three to four hours per day on second appeal hearings related to COVID-19, the CIC, after abiding by it for a few weeks,...

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In this part, we will see possible solution in a situation when information has been denied on the grounds that it is of a personal nature and that no larger public interest has been established.                     Grounds for Appeal: Section 8 (1) (j) of the right to information...

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In recent times it has been seen that a very large number of right to information (RTI) applications are being rejected on the ground that it is personal information or third-party information.   Most applicants have no clue on how to argue against such rejection. With this in mind,...

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In a major victory for citizens, the legal department of the central information commission (CIC) has referred to an official circular dating back to 2016, to communicate that the CIC in appeals arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, should accord precedence, for hearing.   Quoting its...

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It may be recalled that on 20 December 2018, the cyber and information security division of the ministry of home affairs (MHA) issued an order which authorises 10 security and intelligence agencies to intercept, monitor and decrypt any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in...

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The fate of the whistle-blowers, killed because of use of Right to Information (RTI) to expose corruption and to demand transparency, continues unabated, despite the pandemic, with 10 RTI activists having lost their lives, across the country, since March 2020. And what is unnerving is that...

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