-PTI Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of Jammu and Kashmir GR Sofi has said all the government institutions and organisations which have public dealing including NGOs come under the purview of the Right to Information Act. "Not only government institutions are accountable under RTI Act but those dealing with public like NGOs and charity trusts are also covered under the Act," Sofi said addressing a workshop on RTI awareness in Budgam district...
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Right to information left to rot! by G Manjusainath
The RTI Act was envisaged as a potent weapon to fight corruption by ushering in an age of transparency. Yet powerful men in power have ganged up to throttle the law through deliberate delays and by arm-twisting applicants. A comprehensive look at the law. Aweapon in the hands of people. That was how the Right to Information (RTI) Act was envisaged, almost six years back. But the bureaucracy, in connivance with...
More »'Most RTI queries are about illegal buildings'
Information on illegal structures in their neighbourhood topped the list of queries asked by citizens, an analysis of RTI queries at an awareness camp showed. Citizens expressed concern at the three-day RTI camp organized by Mahiti Adhikar Manch and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) at Parel that concluded on Friday. "A majority of the 175 participants said that they wanted to file RTI queries related to unauthorized changes made in...
More »Draft amendments may sound RTI death knell by Viju B
Proposed changes to the Right to Information (RTI) Act threaten to render it ineffective to a large extent. The amendments include restricting questions per RTI query to one and word count to 250 per query, and levying a 'hire' charge. If the Department of Personal and Training's proposed draft comes into effect it would be applicable to all central government agencies and respective state commissions can follow suit and adopt...
More »Babus fined Rs 1 for blocking information by Sanjeev Devasia
What do you think should be the fine for information officers denying information to citizens? Re 1, nothing more or less, according to a state information commissioner.An RTI response sought by activist Vihar Durve in June 2010 revealed that Konkan Information Commissioner Navin Kumar imposed a penalty of Re 1 in two cases of appeals between 2005 and 2008 for stalling information.The first, imposed on July 5, 2008, was meant...
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