Today is 20th March and it was this day in 2009 when the new form of Right to Information Act (RTI Act) was enacted in J&K by Omar Abdullah led Government soon after coming to power. Prior to 2009 we had an RTI law passed by PDP Congress coalition Government headed by Mufti Mohammad Syeed in 2004 (J&K RTI Act 2004). The 2004 version of RTI Act was much weaker...
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Govt rejects petition to amend RTI Act-G Jagannath
The state government has rejected the demand of Right to Information Act activists to incorporate postal orders as one of the modes of payment of application fee and further fee under the RTI. Citing difficulty in the present prescribed modes of payment such as cash, DD, cheque and money order, the activists had petitioned the government seeking amendment to the Act to incorporate postal orders as a mode of payment. “Most public...
More »Information Commission to consider demands of RTI activists
-The Hindu The State Information Commission agreed to consider some of the demands of the RTI Kerala Federation and other organisations that staged a dharna before the commission here on Tuesday. In talks with leaders of the organisations, Chief Information Commissioner Siby Mathews said the commission would consider their representation against delegation of its powers regarding disposal of petitions to officials. The commission had been returning complaints recently, on grounds that first appeals...
More »IG orders investigation into 1.3 lakh RTI reply by Pradeep Gupta
Taking serious note of the incident where an RTI applicant, Sanjay Bhalika, was asked to pay Rs 1.3 lakh as photocopying charges for an RTI reply by an Adharwadi Jail official, the state inspector-general of police (prisons) has directed officials to inquire into the matter. A source said two senior officers from the jail administration would look into Bhalika's allegation. The inquiry was ordered following media reports on the incident. Speaking to...
More »Aruna Roy, Indian social activist interviewed by Kanak Mani Dixit
Kanak Dixit: We have with us Aruna Roy, from Devdungri village in Rajasthan, who has, among other things, been able to take the Right to Information (RTI) from janasunuwais, or public hearings at the village level, all the way to national legislation that encompasses all of India. It is a movement that is truly global in scale. Aruna, a question that has been troubling me quite a bit in the context...
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