“Lack of accountability a major concern” Speakers dissatisfied with ‘sweeping provisions' At a meeting held on Saturday, civil society voices from across a wide spectrum urged broader and multiple consultations to precede the drafting of the Lokpal legislation, warning that in the absence of a mechanism to hold the institution accountable, it could potentially turn into a “Frankenstein's Monster.” Organised by the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) and the Nehru...

In a path-breaking initiative, the Central Information Commission, which is the Central appellate body for the Right to Information Act, has decided on a minimum performance norm for its commissioners. This is the first such decision by a quasi-judicial body in the country. Under the new norm, which the commissioners decided by consensus on March 22, 2011, after several rounds of often fractious consultations, each Central Information Commissioner will be required...

Information on allegations of corruption is not excluded from disclosure under the Right to Information Act, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has held. The information could be furnished by applying the severability clause under Section 10, Information Commissioner Sushma Singh said in an order passed on an appeal filed by Vishwanath Swami, a social activist of Chennai. Seeking information on every purchase made by the Narcotic Control Bureau for office modernisation...

There are about 20,000 Right To Information (RTI) applications pending before the central information commission, former chief information commissioner of India Wajahat Habibullah said here Friday. If people have to wait for long for the information they seek, then there is no justice and the act becomes useless, added Habibullah. The CIC ex-chief was attending a three-day national campaign for people's right to information on the theme 'Reclaiming Democracy', which began here...

The Planning Commission has shot down a proposal of the Central Information Commission (CIC) to bring private entities executing projects under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, arguing that it is applicable on public authority and not on private companies. "RTI is not Right to Information on private companies. It pertains to information on public authority," deputy chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, said...