-Press release by Satark Nagrik Sangathan dated October 11, 2022 Tomorrow (October 12, 2022) marks 17 years of implementation of the RTI Act in India. The law has empowered millions of people to seek information and hold the government accountable. Under the RTI law, information commissions are the final appellate authority and are mandated to safeguard and facilitate people’s fundamental right to information. Information commissions (ICs) have been set up at...

-ANI/ThePrint.in The Delhi High court on Tuesday sought a response from authorities including the central government on a petition seeking disclosure of statistical information on state-sponsored electronic surveillance under the Right to Information Act. Justice Yashwant Varma directed the respondents to file a response on the merit of the petition moved by Apar Gupta within two weeks Now the matter has been listed for November 9, 2022 for further hearing. The petition has challenged...

-The Hindu CIC rules information not exempted under Right to Information Act, Union Home Ministry says records destroyed every six months. Even as the controversy over the Government of India allegedly deploying Pegasus spyware to snoop on top politicians, journalists, activists etc refuses to die down, the Ministry of Home Affairs has sprung a surprise saying it maintains no data of lawful interceptions made by authorised intelligence/law–enforcing agencies. In a written submission before...

-Countercurrents.org The Right to Information (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by both the houses of parliament in July 2019. The opposition parties had been arguing against the proposed changes in the Right to Information Act of 2005 through this amendment. The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act, 2005) came in existence after a long movement against transparency and accountability in governance. It enabled all citizens of India the right to...

-Newsclick.in VENKATESH NAYAK analyses data from the Central Information Commission’s Annual Report for 2021-21 to demonstrate the frequency of rejecting RTI applications under various exemption clauses of the RTI Act used by different central public authorities and Union Territories, comparing the rejections numbers with the same for the previous year. WITH a 2.95 per cent dip in the number of applications under the Right to Information [RTI] Act filed across central public...