-The Times of India India is likely to be on an unchartered territory when it implements the Supreme Court order mandating the presence of a judicial officer and an expert to hear appeals in information commissions across the country. According to an independent survey on information commissions across the world there was no precedent of retired or serving judges as members of panels hearing cases related to freedom of information. The rapid...

Fourteen national and international non-government organisations and academic centres have called for reforms in what they say are excessively-broad exemptions granted to the government on national security issues by the Right to Information (RTI) Act. To guide decision-making on information requests relating to national security, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), along with other groups, is in the process of formulating “guidelines” to bring about consensus on the extent of restrictions...

-The Times of India   In an open house organised at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA), the police and citizens came face to face on the issue of transparency in police stations and the need for proactive disclosures under RTI Act. This meet was jointly organised by Society for Women Action And Training Initiative (SWATI) and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) on Thursday.  The meet agreed that the RTI Act can become an...

Do you know that the highest number of corruption cases are registered in Maharashtra (4566) and the lowest in West Bengal (only 9) between 2000 and 2009? Do you also want to know how much property has been recovered from the corrupt in different states of India in the past ten years? But how does one systematically track corruption? How to get details of the number of cases going on...

How would you rate the functioning of the RTI Act five years into its enactment? It has been a mixed experience. It is encouraging that we have one of the best laws in the world but its shoddy implementation is taking the sheen away. The two nerve centers of RTI are simplifying the process of filing an application and making the functioning of the Commission effective. The posts of Information Commissioner...