Information Commissioners across the country have caused a loss of Rs 86 crore during 2009-10 by not imposing penalties in cases where they ought to have done so as per provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, according to a study by Public Cause Research Foundation. The total expenditure on information commissions in the country (barring Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh) was just Rs 45.4 crore. This is significantly...
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RTI penalties for delay in information are rarely imposed by Ruhi Tewari
Even five years after the enactment of the pioneering Right to Information Act (RTI), penalties for delays in providing what has been sought under the law are imposed in less than 4% of the cases, an independent audit shows. The Act, which empowers citizens to demand information from the government, provides for the imposition of penalties by the Central or State Information Commission in case of delays without reasonable cause. The landmark...
More »Babu hand in Sonia-PM rift
When Manmohan Singh wrote to the Sonia Gandhi-led NAC on December 31, rejecting its recommendations to increase minimum wages paid under the NREGS, he had referred to a “consensual view” that emerged from ministries involved. Gandhi had written to the PM in November that workers under NREGS were being paid less than the minimum wage in some states. “This is a totally unacceptable situation and needs to be corrected at...
More »Schools flouting RTE to face action
The directorate of education (DoE) has finally decided to crack down on schools flouting the nursery admission rules in the city. Acting on the complaints from parents, the DoE on Wednesday decided to serve notices to errant schools asking them to either rectify their admission criteria or face cancellation of the entire process. The education officials are expected to visit schools from Thursday onwards to keep a check on the...
More »Bengal RTI record abysmal by Ajanta Chakraborty
After a gap of five months, the West Bengal Information Commission held a meeting on Monday. But even as chief information commissioner (CIC) Sujit Sarkar promised to "streamline" things, the panel's performance since its inception in 2005 has been nothing to write home about. Among those who keenly studied implementation of the Right to Information Act, 2005, in Bengal is Magsaysay awardee ARVind Kejriwal. Findings by Kejriwal's Public Cause Research...
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