Days after the government placed the CBI under the category of organisations “exempt” from the RTI Act, the country’s first Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah has “requested” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to let the Central agency remain within the ambit of the transparency Act as “public interest would best be served by keeping these bodies transparent and accountable within the limits of the law”. However, the CBI has defended the move...

-PTI ‘She could approach trial court for bail once charges are framed' The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed DMK Member of Parliament Kanimozhi's bail plea in the 2G spectrum allocation case and questioned the Central Bureau of Investigation for its failure to interrogate the accused for recovering certain documents. However, the court offered her some hope, saying she could approach the trial court for bail once charges are framed. It said she shall...

-The Times of India   The Central Information Commission has asked the Prime Minister's Office to make public charges of corruption against former telecom minister A Raja along with views of various officials on them expressed in the form of file notings. A RTI applicant had sought to know why Raja was kept in the Cabinet despite serious allegations of corruption against him. The information was denied to him by the PMO saying...

Marked by distrust and, on the government's part an element of coercion as well, the civil society-UPA exercise to jointly draft a Lokpal bill formally ended in failure on Tuesday with the two sides exchanging conflicting drafts. The government is unable to accept civil society's version of an anti-corruption authority with sweeping jurisdiction over the Prime Minister's Office, top judiciary and actions of MPs in Parliament along with merging entities like...

-The Times of India   The CBI has refused to make public information about disproportionate asset cases against government servants, including bureaucrats and ministers, after last week's exemption under RTI Act given by the government. The Centre, through a notification issued on June 9, placed the agency in the organisations listed in the second schedule of Section 24 of the RTI Act which also comprises intelligence and security agencies. "The government...