Bhikhalal Jethva, father of slain rti activist Amit Jethva who was shot dead in July, today filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court demanding a probe by CBI or any other independent agency into the death of his son. Bhikhalal, in his petition, has alleged that since BJP MP from Junagadh Dinu Solanki was behind the killing of Jethva and independent and impartial investigation was not being done by the...

Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has lambasted chief minister Ashok Chavan and deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal over the recent selection of the four information commissioners. Calling the selection, ``improper and unfortunate'', Hazare has instructed the duo in a letter on Monday to rectify the situation. Chavan, Bhujbal and Eknath Khadse, leader of the opposition, formed the three-member panel which approved of the name of Vilas Patil, till recently the information commissioner for...

Ignoring protests by some rti activists, Governor K Sankaranarayanan cleared the appointment of Vilas Patil as the state’s Chief Information Commissioner. Patil will be administered the oath of office at Raj Bhavan on Thursday. This comes in the face of rti activists as well as veteran activist Anna Hazare opposing the appointments of CIC and other information commissioners alleging that the appointments were not transparent. Incensed, activists from across the city...

Nikhil Dey, convener of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information, has been in the forefront of the rti movement. He speaks to  Bharat Dogra  about the achievements of the rti and the challenges ahead: How do you assess the overall impact of the rti? Sceptics say corruption is increasing more than even before. What I can assure them is corruption would have been much higher without the rti. In schemes...

The rti activist organisations have taken their protest against the latest order of the UP government to move vigilance department out of the purview of the rti Act a step ahead. A writ has been filed on Tuesday by the National rti Forum in the Allahabad High Court, Lucknow bench. The writ is against the notification dated September 22, 2010 issued by principal secretary, Vigilance, UP through which the vigilance department...