Even though five years have passed since the Right to Information Act came into existence, the Maharashtra government is yet to frame procedure rules for applicants to file appeals. s under this Act. Maharashtra is the only state in the country that is yet to draft the appeal procedure rules, which are supposed to prescribe the process of filing a query, including the submission of documents and the hearing for...
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'Most RTI queries are about illegal buildings'
Information on illegal structures in their neighbourhood topped the list of queries asked by citizens, an analysis of RTI queries at an awareness camp showed. Citizens expressed concern at the three-day RTI camp organized by Mahiti Adhikar Manch and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) at Parel that concluded on Friday. "A majority of the 175 participants said that they wanted to file RTI queries related to unauthorized changes made in...
More »Amendments can render Act toothless: activists
A group of activists has raised concerns over the government’s proposed amendments to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, saying they could limit the scope of the landmark legislation. The activists claimed that some of the proposed changes were tailor made for officials to reject RTI queries, which could pave the way for pressure tactics against RTI applicants. “The government is trying to insert a provision that would allow an applicant...
More »Using RTI difficult for us, says Indians abroad by Prathiba Raju
Living overseas for education, employment or other reasons, Indians abroad find it difficult to use the Right to Information (RTI) Act due to the cumbersome fee-payment process. 'Even after five years of the RTI Act, Indian citizens living abroad are unable to use it effectively because of a cumbersome fee payment system. The Indian government has not framed any rules or procedures for the payment of RTI fee in foreign currency...
More »Draft amendments may sound RTI death knell by Viju B
Proposed changes to the Right to Information (RTI) Act threaten to render it ineffective to a large extent. The amendments include restricting questions per RTI query to one and word count to 250 per query, and levying a 'hire' charge. If the Department of Personal and Training's proposed draft comes into effect it would be applicable to all central government agencies and respective state commissions can follow suit and adopt...
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