-Governance Now Experts criticise CIC’s declaration that the attorney general is not a public authority, and thus cannot be under the ambit of RTI Act The chief information commission (CIC) might have struck another blow on the momentous Right to Information Act with its recent ruling that the attorney general (AG) is not bound to answer RTI queries. The declaration has drawn flak from RTI activists, experts and former information commissioners. According to the...
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Sleep on RTI queries, babus tell juniors -Christin Mathew Philip
-The Times of India CHENNAI: Seeking and giving information under Right to Information Act has been a cat-and-mouse game for citizens and officials since the legislation came into effect in October, 2005. Now, senior bureaucrats are giving crash courses to public information officers (PIOs) on how to delay or deny information to applicants. At informal sessions, officers coach PIOs - responsible for giving information under the act - how to redirect queries...
More »Free the people: IT Act's Section 66A, as it stands, has no place in a democracy
-The Times of India The UPA government has itself to blame for being red-faced over Section 66A of the Information Technology Act. Had it come down heavily on the law's repeated misuse, the Supreme Court wouldn't have had to step in. Last week, the apex court issued notices to the Centre and five states in connection with a PIL questioning the legal soundness of Section 66A. It sought explanations for arrests...
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-The Indian Express Apex court is seized of the IT Act’s 66A, but tightening the law may not be sufficient to prevent its misuse Thanks to a PIL, the Supreme Court has come to grips with the controversial Article 66A of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act of 2008, which has been misused to penalise political dissent. The three clauses of the section are designed to criminalise improper communications online, ranging from menacing...
More »Why Sibal is smarter than Rajiv Gandhi -R Balaji
-The Telegraph Take a quiz. Here are the clues. The honeymoon has soured and the great hope sunk The government is under the shadow of kickbacks allegations The government decides to call criticism “grossly indecent”, “scurrilous” and “intended for blackmail” and crucify the critics The government wants to prescribe a minimum period of jail for the critics. Now the question: Name the year and the government. That was the summer of 1988. The Rajiv Gandhi government had run...
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