-TheWire.in Former CICs say 'independent minded commissioners' are being targeted by the Centre and question why similar mechanisms do not exists for judges and election commissioners. New Delhi: The move by the Centre to set up two separate committees to receive complaints against chief information commissioner (CIC) and the central information commissioners has not gone down well with former incumbents. They argue that it is a bid to rein in “independent minded...

-The Indian Express The Indian Express has learnt that the proposal envisages setting up of two committees — one, to receive and decide on complaints against the CIC and a second one for complaints against Information Commissioners. In what is being seen by the Central Information Commission as an attempt to erode its independence and undermine its role as per the Right To Information (RTI) law, the government has proposed setting...

-The Hindu SC to hear petitioner next week In a time of deep political polarisation, refusing to comply with the RTI Act seems to be one of the few issues that has united national parties across the ideological spectrum. Despite a June 2013 ruling from the Central Information Commission (CIC) that they fall within the ambit of the transparency law, parties insist that they cannot be considered public authorities under the Act. Six years...

-The Indian Express The Investigating Officer, Inspector Sunil Kumar, filed the chargesheet in court on April 17, 2015 and since then, police have met senior officials of the Ministry, sent multiple letters with reminders, but they have not received any “concrete response”. New Delhi: In the Supreme Court last week, Attorney General K K Venugopal, making submissions against a plea seeking review of its December 14, 2018 order that dismissed PILs...

-ThePrint.in Model APMC laws suffer from the same economic problem as the old ones. We should repeal APMC laws and not replace them. Although India’s Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee legislation was enacted with the noble intention of increasing farmers’ income, it has had the opposite effect over the years. It has restrained farm income. The failure arises from the basic structure of the legislation, which creates the incentives for middlemen to collude...