The Delhi High Court on Thursday rejected the government's plea that Cabinet papers containing the deliberations of the ministers cannot be disclosed under the Right To Information Act, even after a decision has been taken by it on an issue.
The Congress declared Rs 526 crore as income from unknown sources which is 15.57 per cent of the total income of the national parties from unknown sources, the ADR said.
The data gathered by activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra through his RTI application, show that till June 2016, Indian Air Force aircraft were used for the prime minister's visits to 11 countries -- Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Qatar, Australia, Pakistan, Russia, Iran, Fiji and Singapore.
The IAF plea has claimed that the 'information so sought includes details related to the entire entourage, names of Special Protection Group personnel accompanying the Prime Minister of India on foreign tours for his personal safety, and the same, if disclosed, can potentially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State'.
The CPWD stated this in a letter to the Rajya Secretariat and also posted it on Twitter, amid allegations by opposition parties that the audio feed of Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV), which exclusively broadcasts proceedings from the Upper House of Parliament, was deliberately muted to black out their point of view.
It may sound ironical, but the information declassified by the United States and put in public domain is still tagged as confidential by Ministry of External Affairs as is evident in a case pertaining to the mole in Indira Gandhi's cabinet in 1972.
The bench said that 'argument on the preliminary issue and the claim of privilege raised by the Government of India is reserved'.
The prescription came through an application under the Rights to Information Act by an activist from down-south Kerala state.
Presenting the Interim Budget in Lok Sabha, the minister said the enactment of the Act by the Centre and many states has 'bridged a critical gap in the public decision-making process and ushered in greater accountability of public servants.'
Batting for larger transparency, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has urged the Committee of Administrators running the Board of Control for Cricket in India to look into the issues raised by historian Ramachandra Guha.
The recent spate of technical glitches in aircraft has prompted the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to issue an order on July 18, making aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs) with category B1/B2 licences the final authorities in certifying planes. This has put the spotlight on the availability of such personnel. According to the order, airlines were resorting to frequent one-off authorisation by the Category A certifying staff at transit stations, which is not in line with existing regulatory provisions.
The PMO said providing such information "may be a subjective as well as a cumbersome exercise"
The finance ministry official may have claimed that the ministry does not have information on the loans sanctioned by different banks to Mallya or the details of the guarantee given by Mallya against those loans, but the ministry had responded to questions in this regard in Parliament in the past.
The Right to Information Act, 2005 has been amended to include NIA, Natgrid and CBI in its second schedule which exempts "intelligence and security organisation established by the central government" out of the purview of the Act.
Information Commissioner, in a terse order, pointed out that the website of the application mentions that the content on it is "owned, updated and maintained" by MyGov and MeitY
1,605 people were killed, 30,719 were injured in 10,399 incidents of communal violence from 2004 to 2017.
The disclosure of information related to casualties suffered by army during Kargil war and number of terrorists killed cannot be made public as it would "affect morale of nation", Central Information Commission has held in an order 14 years after the war.
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, on Monday, said bringing the BCCI under the ambit of National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) is one of his biggest achievements since assuming his new office three months ago.
In a new report, the ADR said the BJP declared a total income of Rs 3,623.28 crore during the financial year 2019-20, but spent only 45.57 per cent (Rs 1,651.022 crore) of it.
The electricity bill of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Civil Lines residence was about Rs 91,000 for the months of April and May, according to an RTI reply.
What is the Intelligent Quotient of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi?. This bizarre question came up by way of a Right to Information query before the Central Information Commission which promptly dismissed his plea with an observation that seeking such kind of details is surely "stretching the limits" of the Right to Information Act a "bit too far."
"The RTI Act is potentially a very powerful legislation. We are probably the most advanced in the whole world in terms of the act, but not necessarily in terms of its implementation," said Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah
It said the Central and state governments must make adequate fiscal allocations for computerisation and connectivity from Information Commission level to divisions and sub-division level public authorities so as to effectively operationalise the provisions of the RTI Act.
A full bench comprising of Chief Information Commissioner Satyanand Mishra and Commissioners M L Sharma and Annapurna Dikshit of the Central Information Commission reserved its verdict on political funding.
The CPIO had said that the file was destroyed in 1972 during the routine process of review and weeding of old records.
On Thursday, two survivors and many members of the families of those killed on May 22, 1987, came to Lucknow to file 615 applications under the Right to Information Act
The father of an Information Rights activist Amit Jethwa, who was shot dead by two assailants last night, has alleged that BJP MP from Jundagadh Dinu Solanki could be behind his son's killing.
The bench headed by Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah was hearing RTI appeals against five public authorities, seeking disclosure of answer sheets of different examinations.
Even five years after the implementation of the Right To Information Act, the government has failed to frame rules for the selection of Chief Information Commissioners across the country which has resulted in "arbitrary selection" of these officials, a leading activist has alleged.
The Madhya Pradesh chief minister's office has returned a Right To Information application seeking details of the escape of the then Union Carbide Corporation chairman Warren Anderson from India.The office returned the application of social activist S C Agrawal, claiming that there was no position of a 'central public information officer' in the office of the chief minister.
The CIC, which was hearing the RTI appeal of one Uma Jayaram, expressed its anguish over the 'apathetic attitude' of RPO Gloria Kumar, who in an earlier order was penalised with Rs 16,000 for failing to provide information on time.
Security has been put on high alert across the nation as the Supreme Court of India is all set to deliver its verdict in the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, Sabarimala case and a host of other legal wrangles.
The Central Bank has stonewalled almost every RTI query pertaining to demonetisation citing one or the other reason.
The Delhi High Court on Thursday said the National Stock Exchange was a public authority and was bound to reveal information under the Right to Information Act.
Watch all the debates and discussions in Parliament.
'I am only asking about his travel bills and expenditure.'
The minister, however, henceforth, must make statements against Wankhede or his family only after "reasonable verification of facts," the HC said.
Propagating the prime minister's messages doesn't come cheap, reveals an RTI response. The one-year anniversary message, for instance, cost Rs 8.3 crore, reports Prasanna D Zore.
The central government last week named Vijai Sharma as the new chief information commissioner, a post vacant since August 2014. Sharma, an information commissioner since 2012, must know that his plate is full.
For the second time, the Department of Space has declined to give details on why punitive action was taken against former chief Indian Space Research Organisation G Madhavan Nair in connection with the controversial Antrix-Devas deal, evoking a sharp reaction from the scientist who said there is "something fishy".
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