-The Hindustan Times In a recent order, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by the Karnataka information commissioner as “frivolous”. It also went on to impose costs of  Rs. 1 lakh.  A closer analysis proves that this case has far reaching implications for the fundamental rights of a citizen, rights that have been codified in the Right to Information Act. The particulars are as follows. A Right to Information (RTI) applicant...

-The Indian Express Verma panel wants criminal trial for armed forces men in rape cases. A look at some such cases in Kashmir One of the key recommendations of the Justice J S Verma Committee has been that sexual offences by armed forces personnel be brought under ordinary criminal law. In Kashmir, the armed forces have frequently sought — and got — immunity from prosecution in civilian courts after their personnel have had...

-DNA If an RTI reply is to be believed, then the Maharashtra Navnirman (MNS) is the only party in the state which is assessed and is filing income tax returns regularly with the income tax department. The reply also says that the party has been receiving donations above Rs20,000, but as parties are exempted from tax on income from donations under section 13A of the I-T Act, no tax is payable...

-The Hindustan Times The Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) has been slapped with a show-cause notice for not giving proper reply to an RTI query over shortage of water. In its order dated December 17, the chief information commissioner (CIC) of Haryana, Naresh Gulati, asked the executive engineer of division-2 of Huda, Gurgaon, to furnish correct and complete information to the petitioner free of cost. "The state public information officer-cum-executive engineer, Huda division...

-The Telegraph A rights organisation today accused the Centre and state governments of giving huge, unaccounted grants to NGOs including blacklisted ones, often against a bribe. The Asian Centre for Human Rights said it was basing its claims on replies to a series of RTI applications it had filed in 2010. Releasing the report, “India’s Funds to NGOs Squandered”, the rights body’s director, Suhas Chakma, made these claims at a news conference...