After colleague Veerappa Moily, Law Minister Salman Khurshid has expressed concern over the Right to Information (RTI) Act affecting government functioning. Advocating a re-look at RTI, Khurshid said its misuse was affecting “institutional efficacy and efficiency”, with even the bureaucracy becoming reluctant to record its opinion. A “balance” has to be maintained between transparency and accountability and institutional efficiency, he said. “There is a confidential communication between a minister and the Prime...
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Information sought by whistle-blowers, since killed, to be made public by Vidya Subrahmaniam
All pending information sought by a Right to Information (RTI) activist, who has subsequently been murdered, will henceforth be placed in the public domain. This decision was taken by the Central Information Commission (CIC), which has been under pressure to do its bit to stem the mounting casualties of RTI Activists and applicants. The nature of information sought, the CIC believes, will reveal the motive for the murder. In a resolution...
More »RTI-rattled UPA writes to all: no need to be pro-active in giving information by Manoj CG
At a time when it is being regularly embarrassed via information disclosed through the Right to Information Act — the latest being the Finance Ministry’s controversial note on 2G — a wary UPA has issued a circular to all states, ministries and departments asking them not to draw “inferences” or make “assumptions” or provide “opinion” or “advice” in RTI replies. Citing a Supreme Court ruling in an RTI-related case, the two-page...
More »CIC shield to protect RTI crusaders by Anahita Mukherji
Central Information Commission (CIC) has come out with a landmark resolution to combat unending assaults on right to information (RTI) activists. According to the resolution, if the commission receives a complaint regarding an assault on or murder of an information-seeker, it will examine pending RTI applications of the victim and order the departments to publish the requested information suo motu on their websites. The resolution was mooted by information commissioner Shailesh...
More »Third party opinion must for RTI info
-The Times of India Delhi high court on Friday interpreted a key provision of the Right To Information Act and said the affected party's objections must be sought in case an RTI applicant seeks information relating to a third party. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna upheld Section 11 of the RTI Act and said information relating to or issued by a third party should...
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