-Governance Now Experts criticise CIC’s declaration that the attorney general is not a public authority, and thus cannot be under the ambit of RTI Act The chief information commission (CIC) might have struck another blow on the momentous Right to Information Act with its recent ruling that the attorney general (AG) is not bound to answer RTI queries. The declaration has drawn flak from RTI activists, experts and former information commissioners. According to the...

-The Hindu The Right to Information Act was a marvel in a country that boasted unbreachable barriers between the ruler and the ruled. It was outside the imagination of the ordinary folk raised in a cloistered environment of fear and secrecy that they could actually call for and obtain records of decisions that critically impacted their lives. Yet in only seven years, the RTI law has not just penetrated the fortress...

-Live Mint All file notings can be made public now except those explicitly exempted  The Union cabinet on Thursday decided to withdraw controversial draft amendments to the Right to Information (RTI) Act that sought to restrict disclosure of government file notings. The move allayed the concerns of rights activists. The draft amendments would have restricted disclosure of file notings only to social and developmental issues. The government had to drop the move following...

-PTI The Union Cabinet on Thursday decided to withdraw controversial draft amendments to the Right to Information Act that had sought to restrict disclosure of file notings only to social and developmental issues. After this, all file notings can be made public except those explicitly exempted, such as the ones related to national security, privacy and protection of commercial interest. “The Cabinet has decided to withdraw the amendments,” said a source privy to...

-The Indian Express More than six years after it gave the go-ahead to amend the RTI Act, 2005 to, among other things, exclude public notings on files by officials from being accessed under the transparency law, the Cabinet is expected to withdraw the move when it meets on Thursday. Sources told The Indian Express that the decision comes after UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi indicated to the government her opposition to the proposed...