Leader of Opposition J Jayalalithaa on Monday charged that the appointment of the next Chief Information Commissioner of the State in a non-transparent manner without consulting her had defeated the very objective of the Right To Information Act. She also reiterated her view that the appointment of new CIC was illegal. In a statement here, Jayalalithaa said the purpose of making the Leader of the Opposition one of the members of...

The swearing in of Tamil Nadu’s new chief information commissioner, K.S. Sripathy, was marked by the arrest of three right to information activists who were protesting against his appointment outside the Raj Bhavan. M. Gopalakrishnan, Siva Elango and Madhav Vishnubhatta were arrested from the entrance to the Raj Bhavan, where Sripathy was taking oath, holding up placards that read: “Save RTI”, “No transparency in Appointments”, “Non-transparent appointment to uphold transparency?” They were...

The Punjab government has sought an amendment to the RTI Act for appointment of officiating chief information commissioner (CIC). The state has written to the Ministry of Personnel, Grievances and Pensions and the Ministry of Law and Justice, saying that amendment in the Act be carried out so that there is clarity regarding status, salary and allowances given to the officiating CIC. At present, an officiating CIC is appointed through a routine...

Nearly 17 years after the implementation of 27% reservation for OBCs in central government jobs on the basis of the Mandal Commission recommendations, a mere 6.87% of those employed in various union departments in Groups A, B, C and D services belong to the group. Thus a significant 20% posts across categories and departments reserved for OBCs remain unfilled raising doubts on the effective implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations....

A Right to Information (RTI) activist who was in the forefront in exposing corruption in PDS, foodgrain and fuel distribution in the Marathwada region has been found dead in Nanded. The circumstances behind how 43-year-old Ramdas Ghadegavkar, a local Shiv Sena leader, died is shrouded in mystery. The death of Ramdas, who used the RTI Act, adds another name in the victim list of whistleblowers in the country. The Shivajinagar police...