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...
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Governor’s okay for state info chief by Kunal Purohit
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...
More »‘The RTI Act has not done what it should’ by Ashutosh Shukla
“Has the Right to Information (RTI) Act served its purpose? Well, the answer is that it has not done what it should have,” said former judge of the Bombay high court, justice Hosbet Suresh, speaking at a function to celebrate five years of the RTI Act. Other speakers included Julio Ribeiro, and now retired state chief information commissioner Dr Suresh Joshi. The celebration took place at the Indian Merchant Chambers (IMC) and...
More »'Selection of state info chiefs flawed'
Social activist Anna Hazare has said that he strongly opposed the recent selection of the four Information Commissioners for Maharashtra and that he would urge the governor not to swear them in. Hazare said this to a bunch of RTI activists who had been camping at his village, Ralegan Siddhi, from October 6, seeking his intervention in the selection process. According to Gaurang Vora, one of the activists, Hazare told them...
More »A good start, but concerns remain by Jagdeep S Chhokar
The first five years in the life of most laws is usually a tumultuous period when it moves towards maturity through its application and implementation, and its limits are tested and defined through judicial interpretation. How has the RTI Act fared, where is it now, and what about the future? Danubhai G. Vasava, a poor tribal from Sangroad in Umarpada block of Gujarat’s Surat district, attended a Right to Information (RTI)...
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