Uncertainty prevailed in major political parties including the ruling Congress and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party over whether to appoint an officer who can share information with public under the Right To Information Act as the six-week deadline given by the Central Information Commission to designate such officers ended on Monday.
The Prime Minister's Office has told the Central Information Commission that it cannot declassify files related to freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose as it will adversely affect relations with foreign countries.
Giving relief to itself, the Supreme Court, on Friday, stayed the Central Information Commission's direction asking it to make public information pertaining to appointment of three judges to the apex court by superseding senior judges.
The appointment of a new chief information commissioner has been deferred as the scheduled meeting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Leader of Opposition L K Advani has been postponed. Official sources said the meeting of the three-member committee comprising the Prime Minister, Advani and Law Minister Veerappa Moily has been postponed without citing any reasons and no new date has been given.
Senior most Information Commissioner Vijai Sharma is tipped to be new Chief Information Commissioner, while former Central Board of Direct Taxes chief K V Chowdary is understood to be in the running for the Central Vigilance Commissioner's post.
The new Bench will start hearing the matter from August 16.
It has granted states and the Centre three weeks to furnish the information, and posted the plea filed by RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj for hearing after that.
The Central Information Commission has taken serious note of the government withholding information on the expenses incurred in the investigation of the Bofors pay off case.
The disclosure of files provided by India's second army chief General Sir Roy Bucher to Nehru Memorial Museum and Library about Jammu and Kashmir related to the period of 1947-49, which may throw light on Accession, is in 'national interest,' the central information commission has observed in an order.
In a recent decision, the CIC held that the information provided to the president by various political parties cannot be treated as one emanating from 'fiduciary relationship' and thus cannot be denied under the Act.
'This amendment, if passed, will bring the Information Commission firmly under the authority of the government.'
"This decision was taken at the recent Apex Council meeting and it will be the same like the way BCCI has it. The modalities will be worked out by the Association's Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC)," a senior MCA official said.
Sharad Pawar's comments were at variance from ally Shiv Sena-UBT, whose leader Sanjay Raut had said PM Modi should come forward to inform about his academic qualification and that his degree should be displayed at the entrance of the Parliament building.
Why is the Indian cricket team still using the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) logo which resembles 'Star of India' honour given by the British to their favourite princes in colonial times?
The court stated that creating an absolute bar on the disclosure of information to non-citizens would be contrary to the purpose and object of the RTI Act itself, and the same cannot be read into the legislation.
Information Commissioner M L Sharma has resigned from the Central Information Commission after a nearly five-year-long stint. Sharma was part of several landmark decisions including the bringing of political parties under the RTI Act.
Pawar's comments were at variance from ally Shiv Sena-UBT, whose leader Sanjay Raut had said PM Modi should come forward to inform about his academic qualification and that his degree should be displayed at the entrance of the Parliament building.
The matter came up before Justice Subramonium Prasad who listed it for hearing on October 16.
The currency in circulation (CIC) declined by Rs 7,600 crore in the Diwali week, making it the first such happening in two decades, a report said on Thursday. This was made possible courtesy of a greater reliance on digital payments by people, the report by economists at SBI said, adding that the Indian economy is undergoing a structural transformation at present. They clarified that the Diwali week in 2009 had also witnessed a marginal Rs 950 crore decline in currency in circulation, but that was purely due to the economic slowdown amid the global financial crisis.
Last year, there was no convention because the government had not appointed any chief information commissioner, who happens to be administrative head of the commission and oversees preparations of the function.
"Gandhi's disqualification is illegal and the case is also bogus. I am sure that a higher court in Gujarat will do justice to Gandhi," said Raut, whose party is an ally of the Congress in Maharashtra.
Justice Subramonium Prasad issued notice to the Centre seeking its stand on the former MP's petition for a direction to the authorities to give an "effective response" to his query.
The Prime Minister's Office not disclosing information about expenses incurred on foreign visits of the Prime Minister nothwithstanding, a Central Information Commission-constituted panel has recommended not only putting out such details proactively by all ministries but regular updating as well.
The Gujarat University on Thursday told the high court in Ahmedabad the Right to Information Act cannot be used for satisfying someone's "childish curiosity" as it defended its petition seeking quashing of an order under the transparency law to provide information on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degree to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
The priority of Central Information Commission will be to check vexatious petitions and mounting backlog of cases, its new chief Vijai Sharma said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Chief Information Commissioner R K Mathur rejected the contention of the ministry that details of the amount, reference numbers, dates of bills raised by Indian Air Force and Air India for the foreign visits undertaken by the Prime Minister are scattered across various records and files and collation of information in the manner sought by the appellant would involve searching of voluminous records by a significant number of officials.
"If there is a valid degree of Modi, why Gujarat University is not showing it," Kejriwal asked.
They've also asked to explain how the disclosure of the documents would impact the country's economic interests.
'That's the beauty of Mumbai cricket. Nobody interferes with the running of the cricket, only the cricketers are allowed to run the cricket.'
Uncertainties on account of COVID-19 pandemic have increased the demand for currency notes not only in India but across the globe, official sources said, dismissing the criticism that demonetisation has failed to reduce cash in the economy. Government sources said that growth of the digital payments system post-demonetisation will ultimately curb the dependence on cash. Official data points out a jump in digital payments through different modes, including plastic cards, net banking and Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
It may be a 'no-go' for banking licences to large industrial houses.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday raised questions on the genuineness of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degrees and claimed that they would turn out to be fake if a probe is conducted.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal challenging a single judge's order quashing a plea seeking the agenda of the Supreme Court collegium's meeting on December 12, 2018, when certain decisions were purportedly taken on the elevation of judges to the apex court.
The jury is still out on the decision to demonetise high value currency notes on November 8, 2016, with the government claiming it has helped greater formalisation of the economy while critics saying it has failed to curb black money and reduce dependence on cash. On November 8, six years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the demonetisation of old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes and one of the key objectives of the unprecedented decision was to promote digital payments and curb black money, besides eliminating terror funding. As per a Reserve Bank data, currency with the public has jumped to a new high of Rs 30.88 lakh crore an October 21, indicating that cash usage is still substantial even six years after the demonetisation move.
Theoretically, the currency with the public should expand in sync with the nominal income, which again moves in relation to the nominal growth rate of the economy. But the correlation breaks easily when other factors come into play, says Anup Roy.
"What the RTI Act did was to make available to citizens any information that could be provided, that the government was obliged to provide to a Member of Parliament (MP). In theory, that channel remains open to us," says prominent economist and RTI activist Reetika Khera about how Indian citizens could still have access to information that they want
As part of its efforts to strengthen customer protection, Reserve Bank is considering setting up a fraud registry to create a database of fraudulent websites, phones and various modus operandi used for digital fraud. Such a database will help prevent these fraudsters from repeating the fraud as the websites or phone numbers would be blacklisted, RBI executive director Anil Kumar Sharma said on Monday. "There is no definite timeline for setting up of the fraud registry.
The official said it was due to a technical glitch that the information could not be received by him and responded in time.
At Rs 30.88 lakh crore, the currency with the public is 71.84 per cent higher than the level for the fortnight ended November 4, 2016.
Replying to an RTI query, the PMO said a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has already been formed and its investigation is underway.
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