RIGHT TO INFORMATION


After the verdict in November 2017, where the Supreme Court (SC) ordered that the Office of the Chief Justice is a public authority under the Right to Information Act (RTI), the apex court has so far rejected 13,394 requests and appeals but has given reasons for the rejections only 9,293...

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Last fortnight, on a Bangauru based RTI applicant’s second hearing appeal for seeking income-tax (I-T) details of her estranged husband, chief information commissioner (CIC) Neeraj Kumar Gupta upheld the public information officer’s (PIO’s) denial of information stating that, she  is not...

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Last week, news reports stated that Punjab’s State Information Commission (PSIC), had, despite the COVID-19 lock-down, heard 1,231 second appeals and complaints, of which 792 were heard through video conferencing of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in district headquarters, 277 through...

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As per the government resolution (GR) issued by the general administration department (GAD) of Maharashtra government on 20 July 2020,  the reasons given for the sudden transfer of 14 Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers in various parts of the State, between 11th July and 14th July...

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With disposal of second appeals and complaints to information commissioners (ICs) taking more than a year or two, frustrating citizen’s effort to procure their rightful information in good time, a group of RTI activists have slammed a legal notice on Maharashtra’s state chief information...

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Last week, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked the chairman of the GVK group of companies, GVK Reddy and his son, Sanjay Reddy, managing director of the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) for financial fraud to the tune of Rs705 crore, in the running of the airport, thus...

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Considering the large number of pending second appeals in the Maharashtra State Information Commission, the Supreme Court (SC) in its 15 February 2019 order had observed that the SIC (state information commission)  should function at its full strength of 11 commissioners (chief and 10...

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The cynicism we hear so often about the RTI Act being ineffective, is thankfully almost always countered by an effective use of this transparency law by citizens, for the larger public good.   One such recent example is that of compelling the union health ministry to disclose...

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While directing all the information commissions in Maharashtra to begin second appeal hearings online from Monday, 15th June, Sumit Mullick, state chief information commissioner (SCIC) himself disposed of 20 second appeals via the use of Google Meet App in a single day, thus keeping up his...

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In what can be termed as a major victory for the Right to Information (RTI) activists’ campaign through a series of conferences through Zoom, the Maharashtra state information commission (MSIC), which had gone into hibernation during this lock-down, has finally agreed to conduct second...

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Last week, the Central Information Commission (CIC) slammed the Directorate General of Health Services (DCGI) for replying under RTI that the file containing a crucial report pertaining to recommendations made by it in 2013 while granting approval for new drugs and clinical trials, which were...

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A study by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), last fortnight, https://www.moneylife.in/article/covid-19-puts-a-brake-on-rti-act-all-28-state-information-commissions-in-limbo/60170.html had reported that only one of the 29 information commissions, from one Central Information...

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For all those political leaders, bureaucrats, judges and heads of public institutions who have been complaining since the inception of the Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2005, that public information officers (PIOs) are overburdened with applications, a study reveals that PIOs of the...

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With 28 out of the 29 state information commissions (SCICs) across the country hardly working and with most public information officers (PIOs) and first appellate authorities (FAAs) too busy with COVID-19 duties, the use of Right to Information (RTI) act has almost come to a...

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The COVID-19 pandemic has put a brake on the Right To Information Act (RTI) not only because the postal department is paralysed but also because public authorities are focusing their energies on managing the coronavirus pandemic and, more importantly, because all but one of the 29 state...

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On Wednesday, the central information commission (CIC) issued a circular requesting second appeal appellants and complainants to send to it, their updated email addresses and mobile numbers in order to be able to contact them for informing them of the date of hearing to be conducted online,...

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Since 2014, Maharashtra has tom-tommed about its RTI online website. Last week, the 190-year old Amrutanjan Bridge, was demolished. I wanted to know whether there were public consultations, call for suggestions and objections by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation...

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Despite the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) existing through the past 70 years and operational, and that out of the Rs783 crore, only Rs212 crore have been spent as of 2019, prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi last week announced the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief...

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So, what’s the major concern of citizens today, against the backdrop of a national lockdown where the entire country of 1.3 billion has been asked to stay indoors for three weeks, to counter the spread of the Corona virus? Obviously, information! News, views and videos through television...

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Earlier this month, the three-judge bench led by Justice R Bhanumathi upheld that the Right to Information (RTI) Act cannot override relevant rules under the Gujarat High Court Rules. Information or certified copies of orders held by a high court (HC) can be given to a third party only as per...

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