-The Hindu Only Chief Justice of HC or judge of SC can become CIC Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling on appointments to the Central and State Information Commissions has shaken the world of Right to Information with activists and information commissioners wondering if the order will effectively halt the functioning of the Commissions. Asked Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra: “Does the ruling mean that the RTI Act stands amended suo motu ?” He has...

-PTI In a move aimed at increasing transparency, the Centre on Tuesday asked all its ministries to make public details of official foreign and domestic tours undertaken by ministers and senior officers. The details will include nature of the official tour, places visited, the period, number of people included in the official delegation and total cost of such travel undertaken by a minister or senior officers. The "suo motu" decision was taken after...

-Frontline The Central government notifies new RTI rules, which effectively curb citizens’ right to obtain information.  ON July 31, the Central government notified new rules to implement the Right to Information Act, 2005. The rules will come into force once the Central government tables the notification in Parliament and both Houses of Parliament agree to it. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has not published these rules on its website as...

-The Times of India INDORE: Only one-fourth of the applicants filing RTI before the central information commission (CIC) get the information as required by them, if one goes by the study conducted by an Indore-based RTI Activist,Anuradha Verma. She is currently associated with Indian Institute of Management (Indore) as an RTI consultant and runs a site www.rtifoundationofindia.com.  The study reveals that nearly one-third of the applicants get only a part of the...

-Deccan Herald The Central Information Commission (CIC) has said that details of the orders issued by the authorities for phone tapping or any interception of information passing through computers cannot be disclosed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act as it may jeopardise the security of the country. The Commission gave the ruling while rejecting an appeal filed by Talish Ray, a Delhi resident who challenged the denial of information on such...