-Outlook The Supreme Court has ruled that the details of a person's income tax returns and performance of an employee are "personal information" which cannot be divulged under the provisions of the Right to Information Act unless a larger public interest is involved. The apex court added that under the transparency law, information pertaining to the performance of an employee or officer cannot be made public as it is a matter between...

-Forbes India Why the recent Supreme Court ruling threatens to kill citizens’ Right to Information The Supreme Court has placed the Central Information Commission (CIC), the apex body to deal with appeals regarding RTI, as well as the Information Commissions across the states in a fine pickle. On September 13, a division bench of the Supreme Court, chaired by Justice AK Patnaik and Justice Swatanter Kumar, passed an order which would fundamentally change...

-The Indian Express Notwithstanding the recent Supreme Court judgment re-drawing their eligibility criteria, Attorney General G E Vahanvati has said that the central and state information commissioners can continue for now. According to him, the SC ruling will be operative with prospective effect, but the government should not delay its review petition as the apex court’s decision is capable of creating “disarray” in their functioning. In his opinion submitted to the government...

-The Hindu Right to Information (RTI) activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal says there is something suspicious about why the Cabinet Secretariat is not divulging the full biodata of former Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) Polayil Joseph Thomas, and other details about him that were placed before the high power committee headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Mr. Agrawal, who had sought these details and filed an appeal against the order of the Chief Public...

-The Hindustan Times The bureaucracy is determined to make you pay for your right to information (RTI), literally. Documents released under the transparency law reveal that the government has been planning to make people pay to file appeals since 2009. So far, RTI applicants only have to pay a fee of Rs. 10 for filing applications. If the information request is denied, they are entitled to appeal against the decision, initially to the...