-The Indian Express The relationship of the RTI with the judiciary has been fraught from the beginning. Since the RTI Act conferred powers on the chief justice of the Supreme Court of India and the chief justices of high courts of states for carrying out its provisions, all these courts framed their own rules. On November 13, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court passed its order in the Subhash...

-PTI The appeal filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay has challenged the September 3 high court order, which said it was for Parliament and the state legislatures to enact laws and not for the court. New Delhi: A plea challenging a Delhi High Court order dismissing a PIL seeking implementation of certain steps, including the two-child norm, to control the country’s rising population has been...

-The Indian Express Following a Supreme Court order directing three states to compensate farmers who have refrained from burning paddy stubble on their fields, Punjab government is paying Rs 2,500 per acre. The Indian Express explains how the government is zeroing in on those managed the stubble in an environment friendly way * How many farmers have applied for compensation? The state government has received nearly 85,000 applications till date. The numbers...

-The Telegraph The activists were speaking against the backdrop of the govt weakening the RTI architecture through amendments The Supreme Court judgment bringing the Chief Justice of India’s office under the Right to Information Act was welcomed by RTI activists but some of them disagreed with the observation of one of the judges that the “right to information should not be allowed to be used as a tool of surveillance to scuttle...

-Hindustan Times Improve judicial infrastructure, expand judicial training, and develop an evidence-based approach to reforms Think of a single, prominent white dot plotted against a black background. Imagine taking a step back and observing the picture. You would not be the only one if you only observed the dot and overlooked the vast expanse of black, though present in comparative spatial abundance. The Supreme Court of India, the white dot in India’s...