-The Hindu They are both statutory forums that redress the grievances of people but have been placed at the loggerheads following a verdict by a city consumer court. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Chennai, (South) has held the Public Information Officer of the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission liable for “deficiency of service”. The consumer forum ordered the public information officer to pay compensation of Rs.5,000 to an applicant, holding that...

-The Deccan Herald The Central Information Commission (CIC) has stated that a citizen’s Right to Information would get primacy over an individual’s right to privacy, adding weight to the principle of transparency. In an important decision, the transparency panel said though the state had no right to invade the privacy of an individual but in extraordinary circumstances, where the government sought information from citizens, details could be given out under the Right...

-PTI The Maoist are recruiting and indoctrinating children and had constituted children's squads and associations as part of mass mobilisation, a UN report said. The annual report of the UN secretary-general on children and armed conflict, submitted to the Security Council last week, said information has been received on recruitment and use of children by Naxalites, particularly in Chhattisgarh and some districts in adjoining states. "Maoist armed groups were recruiting and indoctrinating children,...

-The Hindu It has made maximum number of requests to Google on content removal On a global scale, India made the maximum number of requests to Google through executive and police agencies for removal of content from the company's online services, but achieved a low rate of compliance from July to December 2011. By contrast, there were five court orders for removal of content, four of them on grounds of defamation, with...

-The Hindustan Times Though the high courts in the country are supposed to deliver justice in Right to Information (RTI) cases, they are the very institutions that  make implementation of the law difficult, a study by a government institute has found. The study conducted by the Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration, which evaluates the efficacy of the transparency law, finds that many high courts have prescribed rules for RTI in violation...