-Association for Democratic Reforms Press Release   New Delhi: The amendment made in the RTI Act by the Parliament that proposed to keep political parties outside its ambit has been approved by the Parliamentary Committee, entrusted with the task of reviewing it despite much opposition from civil society organizations and citizens. In a landmark decision on June 3, 2013, the Central Information Commission (CIC) pronounced that the political parties (INC, BJP, CPM,...

-The Hindu Justice A.K. Ganguly's holding on to his position as the Chairperson of the West Bengal State Human Rights Commission after being accused by a law intern of improper sexual advances may indicate a justified concern about his hard-earned reputation. Yet, it is clear he has also displayed a petulant unwillingness to recognise that his continuance does great damage to the institutional integrity of his office. After a three-member...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: There is some hope for the LGBT community in the recent Supreme Court judgment despite it spreading gloom among them by upholding the validity of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. While it closed the small window opened by the Delhi High Court legalizing consensual gay sex between adults in private, it took a panoramic view of Indian case law on Section 377 and...

-The Indian Express Asserting its supremacy over the executive, the Supreme Court Tuesday ruled that the Centre's approval was not required to investigate officers of Joint Secretary level and above when a constitutional court monitors the probe. In what it described as "substitution of a forum - from a minister to a constitutional court," a Bench led by Justice R M Lodha said the necessity of prior sanction under Section 6A of...

-NDTV A Parliamentary standing committee has agreed with the government that political parties do not come under the Right to Information or RTI Act. The landmark transparency law, passed by the UPA I government in 2005, is often flaunted by Congress Number 2 Rahul Gandhi as a precursor to the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill, currently being pushed by the government in Parliament. All political parties barring Odisha-based Biju Janata Dal and the Communist Party...