-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre and nine states, including Bengal, to file affidavits within four weeks stating by when they would fill their vacant posts of information commissioners and, in some cases, even chief information commissioners. The bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan were hearing a petition from RTI activist Anjali Bharadwaj, who cited four vacancies in the Central Information Commission and many...

-The Hindu The RTI Act Amendment Bill must be junked The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, has empowered millions of Indians to question governments and hold public functionaries accountable. Of the nearly six million RTI applications filed every year in the country, a large proportion are by the poorest and the most marginalised who seek information about their basic rights and entitlements, like rations, pensions and health facilities. The use of...

-TheWire.in The Centre's decision to defer the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill 2018 – after protests from the public and the opposition – is temporary good news. Sub-section (5) of Section 13 of the Right to Information Act provided that the salaries and allowance and other terms and conditions of service of the chief information commissioner and information commissioners shall be same as that of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners,...

-Newsclick.in “According to media reports, the proposed amendments seek to fundamentally weaken the institution of the information commissions by allowing the central and state governments to decide salaries of commissioners,” says NCPRI Press Release. Among the bills listed under the ‘Legislative Business’ to be carried out during the monsoon session of Lok Sabha,which will be held from July 18 to August 10, is ‘The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2018’. Although included...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The government’s move to introduce a new bill to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act in the monsoon session of Parliament has riled the Opposition parties and social rights activists. Opposition MPs are planning to raise the issue on the first day of the session. The government has not put the draft amendment bill in the public domain yet. In Parliament bulletin on “government business expected...