The Right to Information Act (RTI Act), barring CERTain exceptions, can be used to get information about decisions taken by public authorities, details of public expenditure, status of projects and many other administrative issues. RTI is also used as an effective tool to prevent corruption, and hence, it is essential that citizens use this Act regularly to keep a check on public authorities. In order to get accurate responses, citizens are...

In a significant order, the state Chief Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that the police department is liable to furnish such information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act which do not relate to state or national security or directly affect an ongoing investigation. The CIC said police agencies cannot deny information relating to general crimes to citizens under the RTI Act citing conditional exemption. The CIC order came on an RTI...

A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took centre-stage putting his party's weight behind protestors over land acquisition in western Uttar Pradesh, the government on Thursday said it would introduce a new land acquisition bill having provisions for better compensation and rehabilitation measures in the next session of Parliament. "We must have a new land acquisition law. Government has drafted a new act that has provisions for better compensation, rehabilitation and...

Information is a fundamental right of citizen Supreme Court cannot cite internal rules to deny information It can be denied only if information sought is prohibited under RTI Act itself The Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that in a conflict between the Right to Information Act and the internal rules of a Public Authority, the RTI Act must prevail. It would prevail even if the internal rules pertain to the Supreme Court. CIC...

At home, the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs, but here the Congress-led UPA-II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). On Tuesday, the United Nations released a Global Assessment Report (GAR), praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized. In a power-point presentation made during the release of the...