They operate from a cramped floor in a commercial building near Bhikaji Cama Place in Delhi, and work on a heavy roster of hearings day in and day out. However, the five posts of information commissioners in the Central Information Commission have drawn applications from all categories of people — from scientists, lawyers and journalists to, most of all, retired or soon-to-be retired bureaucrats.   Despite the heavy workload and its low-profile...

-The Indian Express CBI director Amar Pratap Singh declared today that “if the king is immoral, so will be his subjects”, and sought “ethics in governance” while addressing an Interpol anti-corruption programme. In a hint at scams involving ministers, Singh said: “I am prompted to recall a famous verse from ancient Indian scriptures, which says ‘Yatha raja tatha praja’.” Singh said $ 500 billion (nearly Rs 24 lakh crore) had been stashed away...

-The Economic Times Surprised at "missing" records of correspondence between the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed relating to the 1975 Emergency proclamation, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to retrieve and preserve the relevant files.  The transparency panel also sought an enquiry by the PMO into how the records relating to "such an important event in the history of post-independent India"...

-DNA   The outgoing chief information commissioner (CIC), of Maharashtra Vijay Kuvalekar, opined that the judicious usage of the Right to Information (RTI), Act 2005, has proved potent in solving many problems of the common man. Kuvalekar, was speaking to the media persons, on the eve of his retirement on Monday in Pune. “In my five-year tenure, I have come across many cases, where RTI has been successful in solving the problems of...

-The Hindu The Union Law and Justice Ministry has decided to challenge the Central Information Commission (CIC) order directing it to disclose the 2007 advice tendered to A. Raja by the then Solicitor- General, Goolam E. Vahanvati. The first mention of the advice was by Mr. Raja himself — in a letter the former Telecom Minister wrote to the Prime Minister on December 26, 2007. In the letter, which was in response...