-The Indian Express Mumbai: The amended Maharashtra Right to Information (RTI) Rules have not been issued for curtailing the freedom of expression of citizens or to harass them, the state government told the Bombay High Court on Thursday. The government stand, stated in an affidavit, came in response to a public interest litigation challenging restrictions pertaining to word limit and of limiting one application for information to one subject. The affidavit was...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Registrar General of the Allahabad High Court and the Central Information Commission on a public interest writ petition challenging the RTI rules framed by the High Court. A Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar issued notice on the PIL filed by Common Cause, after hearing its counsel Prashant Bhushan, who submitted that the rules were unduly restrictive as it...

-The Indian Express The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Allahabad High Court registry to reply to a PIL challenging its RTI rules as unconstitutional. A bench of Justices A K Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar asked the registry to respond on a plea by NGO, Common Cause, which has sought the quashing of Rules 3 to 5, 20 and 25 to 27 of the Allahabad High Court (Right to Information) Rules, 2006. The...

-The Economic Times A year after the Centre shelved a move of introducing norms, including a 250-word limit on RTI applications, it has resurrected the proposal. The file pertaining to draft RTI rules has been sent to Prime Minister's Office, putting the proposal back on the agenda of UPA-II. The Centre had in November, 2010, sought to introduce amendment to RTI rules for filing applications. The rules framed by the Department...

The railway ministry is helpless about the discomfort of railway passengers in reserved compartments who are outnumbered by passengers without tickets or with tickets meant for unreserved compartments   Last month, my friend’s daughter went on a trip to Corbett Park, which was organised by a Pune-based nature trail group. Although they had booked a Second Class (ordinary) reserved compartment, most of the 30-hour journey was spent in utter discomfort, with people...