-The Hindu They have neither sought review of CIC ruling nor challenged it in court Seventeen months after the Central Information Commission ruled that the Right to Information Act applied to six national political parties, none of them has complied with the Act or appealed against it. A full Bench of the commission, comprising Information Commissioners Vijai Sharma, Sharat Sabharwal and Manjula Prasher, had posted a hearing on the parties' non-compliance with its...
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Like UPA, most ministries in Modi govt lying low on RTI disclosures -Nivedita Mookerji & Nitin Sethi
-The Business Standard The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, like its United Progressive Alliance (UPA) predecessor, seems to be failing on suo motu disclosures under the Right to Information Act (RTI). The department of personnel & training (DoPT) had last month issued an official memorandum directing all central ministries and departments to upload replies to RTI applications and first appeals on their respective websites from October 31. This had...
More »Narendra Modi government takes RTI to another level: All replies to be put online -Aman Sharma
-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: It had been expected to dilute the UPA government's showpiece Right to Information (RTI) Act that had become a scourge of sorts for its ministers and bureaucrats and was even blamed by some as a contributing factor for the policy paralysis during its reign. But the Narendra Modi-led BJP government has done the reverse and taken RTI to quite another level. Starting next month, all replies...
More »State has delivered double blow to RTI, say angry activists -Yogesh Naik & Rajendra B Aklekar
-Mumbai Mirror Second punch: Govt issues circular telling officials to hold back any files that they think are not in public interest. Outraged Right to Information (RTI) activists have railed at two government notifications, issued in the last two weeks, which they say seek to dilute the efficacy of the RTI Act. Some advocates of transparency and the regime of accountability have termed the orders "illegal" and have written letters of protest...
More »Reluctance to penalize weakening RTI: Study -Himanshi Dhawan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Information commissioners across the country are using a light touch to tackle RTI complaints sparing imposition of penalty in over 96% of the cases according to an independent study. Penalties have been imposed in just 3870 or 3.72% of the cases between January 2012 to December 2013 in 21 information commissions across the country. Activists say that commissions are turning a blind eye to delays or...
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