-The Times of India One of India's most unusual experiments with citizen participation in governance is set to come to an end on Friday, when Central Information Commissioner (CIC)Shailesh Gandhi retires. Gandhi, a noted Right To Information (RTI) activist from Mumbai, was appointed to the central information commission in 2008. Under the RTI Act, there is a state information commission in every state for its laws, and a central information commission for...

-The Hindu Observing that “Chief Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi has demonstrated complete lack of judicial discipline”, the Delhi High Court has quashed two orders passed by him on appeals by a RTI activist against denial of information sought by him from the Registrar of Companies regarding a company. The Registrar of Companies had denied information to the activist under the Right to Information Act saying that it was not within the purview...

-The Hindu Once a Bill is tabled in Parliament after Cabinet nod, there can be no bar on disclosing the contents The Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that once a Bill has been tabled in Parliament, the Cabinet decision and file notings relating to it can be made public. Ordering the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to produce the Cabinet note, papers and file notings relating to the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority...

The Central Information Commission ( CIC) has directed the home ministry to disclose file notings and correspondence related to the mercy petitions of all death row convicts including Afzal Guru. Giving the order information commissioner Sushma Singh asked the home ministry to provide information of mercy petitions related to all convicts (pending and disposed) after Devindersingh Khullar and Mahendernath Dass. The order was based on a RTI application filed by activists S...

-IANS The government wants to plug leakages in the public distribution system (PDS) before it implements the ambitious National Food Security Bill and has asked states to complete the process of computerisation of data on beneficiaries by October this year. The proposed law, a pet project of United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, aims to give legal right to cheaper foodgrain to 63.5 per cent of the population. According to a senior official...