-The Telegraph The petition filed accused the Centre of having misled the apex court in April by saying it had complied with its December 2019 order to fill all the posts rti activist Anjali Bharadwaj on Monday applied to the Supreme Court for an “urgent” hearing of a petition that seeks the immediate filling of all the vacancies at the Central Information Commission, where six of the 11 posts are currently unoccupied. The...
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Government compromises on Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy (2014) and RTI Act to push forward mining reforms, allege civil society activists
--Press release by Mineral Inheritors Rights Association (MIRA) dated 27th August, 2020 The Ministry of Mines has put up a notice on 24th August, 2020 seeking public comments on substantial matters of reform of mineral laws, rules and regulations within a period of 10 days, i.e. 3rd September, 2020. The state governments have not yet been consulted and a 10-day period for the states to respond undermines the federal spirit of...
More »Ventilators from firms funded by PM CARES fail trials -Priscilla Jebaraj
-The Hindu 2 companies that got ₹22 cr. advance in May later dropped from Ministry list. Two firms given purchase orders for indigenously manufactured ventilators for COVID-19 treatment funded by PM-CARES have failed a clinical evaluation by the Health Ministry’s technical committee, according to information accessed through the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The firms — Jyoti CNC Automation and Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) — had already received ₹22.5 crore in advance...
More »PMO denies RTI plea seeking info on PM-CARES -Priscilla Jebaraj
-The Hindu Office cites ‘diversion of resources’ clause; former CIC Wajahat Habibullah terms it ‘misuse of Act’. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has denied a Right to Information request related to the PM-CARES Fund on the grounds that providing it would “disproportionately divert the resources of the office.” However, a High Court judgment and multiple orders of the Central Information Commission (CIC) have previously held that, under the RTI Act, this rationale...
More »Let’s talk about rights in a democracy
-The New Indian Express In times like these when the world is riddled with extreme polarities, a new book, titled, We the People, brings a collection of essays that centres on growth of universal rights. In times like these when the world is riddled with extreme polarities, a new book, titled, We the People, brings a collection of essays that centres on growth of universal rights. Authors Nikhil Day, Rakshita Swamy and...
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