Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi recently took the extraordinary step of unilaterally releasing the minutes of the October 14, 2009 meeting between Union Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Central and State Information Commissioners on a proposal to significantly amend the Right to Information Act, 2005. The meeting's importance lay in the fact that it saw the hopeless isolation of the government side (Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public...
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Mum’s The Word by Saikat Datta
The Centre plans to manacle the RTI Act When the UPA passed the landmark Right to Information Act in 2005, it was meant to empower citizens. The law promised transparency, accountability, and the end of corruption in governance. But in under five years, the government is planning to push through amendments that will dilute the law. Ironically, the amendments are being pushed through in a totally opaque manner. There has been...
More »Kerala's paddy war by Shree Padre
Dr U Jaikumaran is breathless with excitement over the phone. “The next five days will be hectic and crucial in our war against hunger. We have to transplant rice on 300 acres in just five days.” Dr Jaikumaran, a professor at the Kerala Agriculture University (KAU), has been building a Food Security Army (FSA) – men and women in green uniforms organised into nine regiments and 24 battalions – who are...
More »Angry Information Commissioner releases minutes of RTI meeting on Act amendments by Vidya Subrahmaniam
Government seems disrespectful in treating October meeting as a non-event: Shailesh Gandhi At meeting, majority of 60-odd Commissioners vetoed amendments proposed by DoPT Meeting concluded on understanding that DoPT would forward minutes to the Commissioners The minutes of the stormy October 14, 2009 meeting between Central and State Information Commissioners and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on the controversial issue of amendments to the Right To Information Act, 2005 are...
More »Moily hints at RTI Act amendments on judiciary
Union Law and Justice Minister M. Veerappa Moily on Sunday hinted that the Centre was working out a proposal to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act relating to the judiciary. However, he made it clear to journalists here that the proposal was independent of the Delhi High Court verdict on January 12 this year. In its judgment against the Supreme Court, the High Court had held that the office of...
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