-DNA The government has spent a whopping Rs 80 crore since 2009 to maintain VVIP samadhis. In an rti filed by dna, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) that is responsible for maintaining the Samadhi Complex in Delhi has revealed that these expenses were incurred to maintain plush lawns, electrical supply and security. The Samadhi Complex spread over 245 acres of land along the bank of Yamuna on Ring Road in Delhi...

-The Hindu When a new Chief Information Commissioner is appointed, he or she will find a mammoth 10,000 Right to Information appeals pending. The new government's delay in appointing a new chief has led to the pendency shooting up, much of it surrounding new policy decisions taken by the government. The Chief Information Commissioner heads the Central Information Commission, the body that hears appeals from information-seekers who have not been satisfied...

-The Hindu They have neither sought review of CIC ruling nor challenged it in court Seventeen months after the Central Information Commission ruled that the Right to Information Act applied to six national political parties, none of them has complied with the Act or appealed against it. A full Bench of the commission, comprising Information Commissioners Vijai Sharma, Sharat Sabharwal and Manjula Prasher, had posted a hearing on the parties' non-compliance with its...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: An rti enquiry has found that a high-level committee, formed by the ministry of earth sciences and climate change to review environmental laws, was not constituted according to requisite administrative procedure. The committee, headed by former cabinet secretary T S R Subramaniam, was tasked to review six environmental, forest and wildlife laws, including the Air and Water Act. An rti application dated October 1, 2014, was...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: There is a 70% spurt in the number of rti applications to the Prime Minister's Office after Narendra Modi took charge in May this year. Worryingly the number of appeals have increased by 65% indicating that people are dissatisfied with the responses they have received so far. The number of rtis have increased from 3069 between January-May 2014 to 5208 applications between June-October this year. The...