Unusual Cases

While maintaining that it has not issued any licence or authorisation to any company to trade in virtual currencies like Bitcoin, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has no information about entities dealing in illegal trading, investing and exchange of virtual currencies, reveals a reply received under Right to Information (RTI) Act.    We filed an RTI application with RBI seeking information about trading, investing, exchange and online wallet services in virtual currencies that are...

Creating awareness about the Right to Information (RTI) Act is one of the mandates of the government as per the law that was enacted 12 years ago. However, it is thanks to dedicated RTI activists that people know more about the Act; the government, on the other hand, would prefer to bury or neutralise it if possible.   Against this backdrop, Pune based Vijay Kumbhar needs to be lauded for spreading awareness and taking the RTI movement forward though his unique RTI Katta. The...

Probably for the first time, a Right to Information (RTI) activist has used the Section 2(j) of the RTI Act to conduct a physical inspection of a public premise. The premises in question was that of the 100-bed Pandit Bhimsen Joshi (Temba) Hospital, a new facility run by the Mira Bhaindar Municipal Corp (MBMC). The Corporation was reluctant to even start this Hospital citing lack of funding. Finally, the Hospital was started in January 2016, following an order from the Bombay High Court,...

The next time you are accused of speeding, when you believe you are within the rules, you could well be right - no matter what the reading on the speed guns used by the traffic police to catch you and impose a fine.  When Delhi-based Savyasachi Marwaha was intercepted and fined for speeding, even when he was driving his car at lower speed, he decided to get to the bottom of how the system worked. The Right to Information (RTI) Act was the weapon of choice used by this former services...

Following an order from the Bombay High Court, the Maharashtra government has directed all municipal corporations from the state to utilise funds collected from taxpayers for providing basic facilities or amenities to citizens and not on organising festivals or sponsoring religious events or functions.   Citing the order issue by the HC, the State Government order issued on 29 November 2017, has asked all municipal corporations across the state to ensure that their fund are not...