-Newsclick.in “According to media reports, the proposed amendments seek to fundamentally weaken the institution of the information commissions by allowing the central and state governments to decide salaries of commissioners,” says NCPRI Press Release. Among the bills listed under the ‘Legislative Business’ to be carried out during the monsoon session of Lok Sabha,which will be held from July 18 to August 10, is ‘The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2018’. Although included...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: In the Lok Sabha bulletin for legislative business of the upcoming monsoon session, one bill stands out because it is the only one about which no details have been furnished. The bill seeks to amend the Right to Information Act of 2005, and the ironical opaqueness has alarmed transparency advocates who have mounted a pushback. As many as 18 bills are listed for introduction, consideration and passage in the...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre, Bengal and seven other states on a petition seeking immediate filling up of the posts in the Central Information Commission and the state information commissions. A bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan sought responses within four weeks on the PIL filed jointly by three RTI activists - Anjali Bharadwaj, Amrita Jorhi and Lokesh K. Batra -...

-MoneyLife.in Recently and at last, Maharashtra has appointed a Chief Information Commissioner under the Right to Informaation (RTI) Act, and it is no surprise that he happens to be a former bureaucrat.  Sumit Mallik, who just retired as Chief Secretary, takes over the chair, which was lying vacant since the last several months. The trend of appointing civil servants for the posts of CICs and Informaction Commissioners (ICs) has continued ever since...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The National Campaign for Peoples' Right to Information on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put the proposed amendments to the RTI Act in the public domain in keeping with the government's policy of pre-legislative consultations. The policy, adopted in 2014, mandates that all draft legislation (including subordinate legislation) should be placed in the public domain for 30 days and comments invited from the public. It also requires...