The Central Information Commission decides to appeal against a judgment of the Delhi High Court that threatens to disrupt its smooth functioning. SHAILESH GANDHI, a Central Information Commissioner, recently said the Right to Information (RTI) Act faced a serious threat from the government and the judiciary. His warning came in the context of the woefully inadequate government-sanctioned resources and the number of stay orders issued by High Courts on the...
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Top IIT officials penalised for delay in providing information
The Central Information Commission has imposed a penalty of Rs 15,000 on senior officials of IIT-Kharagpur for delay in providing information to a professor of the Institute. The transparency panel has also directed the engineering institute to pay a compensation of Rs 5,000 to Professor Rajeev Kumar for the loss and detriment suffered by him. "For two simple and straightforward queries, the complainant had to wait for almost five months.This may...
More »Activists dig out climate policy gaps with India's Right to Information Act by Teresa Rehman
Climate activists in India have discovered a crucial tool in their battle to hold the government accountable on its climate policies: the country's landmark Right to Information (RTI) Act. Passed in 2005, the act requires all government bodies to respond to citizen requests for information within 30 days. Many bodies, threatened with legal action after initially failing to respond, are now delivering information that shows big gaps in the country's...
More »CIC asks PMO to declare Ministers' assets
The Central Information Commission (CIC) on Monday directed the Prime Minister's Office to declare Union Ministers' assets after getting the nod from the Rajya Sabha Chairman and the Lok Sabha Speaker, and said the opinion of the heads of both Houses will be applicable to all future Right to Information queries seeking such information. Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah passed the order while hearing a petition from RTI activist Subhash Agarwal,...
More »Audit shock by Purnima S Tripathi
A social audit on the working of the ban on child labour in the domestic and hospitality sectors reveals a sorry state of affairs. LIKE any normal child, Illyas from Varanasi, a 13-year-old, wanted to go to a regular school and become an important man some day. But poverty forced him to start working at an eatery for Rs.200 a day so that he could feed his younger siblings. He,...
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