-The Business Standard The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on Wednesday called for a level playing field for getting information for auditing purposes. Pointing out that responses from government departments were often delayed, CAG Vinod Rai said “the auditor is not given the powers which a man on the street has”. He was speaking at a panel discussion at the Business Standard Annual Awards here on Wednesday. Rai was referring...

-The Times of India   Barkatullah University will have a separate counter to accept cash from rti applicants seeking information related to BU issues soon. The facility will save rti applicants from paying more money, the university registrarsaid. The decision came a day after the TOI carried a story on how rti applicants are forced to cough up Rs 27 for a photo copy because the university doesn't accept cash and insists on...

-Moneylife Activists have urged the CM to fill up the posts immediately as rti applications to various state government departments remain unanswered rti activists and citizens are perturbed that Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has been dilly-dallying with the appointments to the vacant posts in the state information commission, and have said that he needs to be proactive in the implementation of Right to Information (rti) Act and address the problems that...

rti applicants end up paying Rs 27 to get a photocopy of information sought through rti from Barkatullah University. Reason: the university doesn't accept cash. Left with no option, rti applicant has to cough up bank commission of Rs 25 for Rs-2 challan.  Barkatullah University deputy registrar B Bharti said: "We do not accept cash. We ask applicants to come with a bank challan if they want photo-copies."  When pointed out, former...

Punctuality audit ordered by the Chief Secretary of the Delhi government last year opened the Pandora’s Box on poor attendance records of government officials. Documents obtained under an rti filed by Pratidhi show that nodal departments had large numbers of their staff members missing, on most surprise checks. Chief secretary P K Tripathi had ordered the audit last June after writing to heads of all departments that they must conduct at...