Information obtained under Right To Information Act is increasingly becoming the basis of public interest petitions seeking judicial redress of grievances. The Supreme Court on Monday disapproved of this modus operandi and said from now, it would not entertain PILssolely based on RTI information. "Petitioners banking on information obtained through RTI Act must approach the concerned ministry, bring the facts to its notice and demand justice. If the ministry does not...

While Rahul Gandhi spoke of a woman delivering a baby once a week and 52 times a year in Uttar Pradesh according to the official record of the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) on Monday, Youth Congress men in Lucknow were busy preparing an exhibition of glaring cases of corruption in the scheme at their state office.   The exhibition, based on an audit conducted in 12 blocks, is expected to start on...

-The Times of India   As sports minister Ajay Maken sets out to getting the revised National Sports Development Bill tabled in the winter session of parliament, the biggest opposition is once again going to come from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). BCCI, who have refused to come under the purview of Right To Information (RTI) Act, has been vocal about its objection to the B. Board officials...

-PTI   An attempt to use RTI to get details of Sonia Gandhi’s trips abroad, including that in August for surgery, came to nought as no government department appeared to have the information to share. Kailash Kanwar of Bhilwara, Rajasthan, filed an application under the RTI Act for details of foreign trips in the past two years by the chairperson of the UPA and the National Advisory Council. The application sent to the external...

An RTI activist, who stumbled over words used in his own affidavit, was refused permission to cross-examine witnesses in the Adarsh scam case. Hearing an application filed by Adarsh society members objecting to Santosh Daundkar's plea to grill witnesses, the judicial commission of Justice (retired) J A Patil and member P Subhramanyam however dismissed the plea to throw out the affidavit and evidence submitted by the activist. The Adarsh panel had...