Dragged to courts by stock exchanges, Central Information Commission now wants the Supreme Court to resolve whether bourses can be brought under the purview of the Right to Information Act or not.
"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
Data from the Central Information Commission, the apex body that hears complaints regarding denial of information under RTI, shows that corporate houses are increasingly using RTI to extract information from public authorities.
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.
The Central Information Commission has made it clear through its decisions that disclosure of file notings under the RTI Act could be made to information seekers.
"Why cannot the marks under each category of tests (in CAT) as well as the group of aspirants, general and others, be revealed," Information Commissioner M M Ansari sought to know in a recent order on a RTI plea by Mumbai resident Sameer Arora.
The CIC has ruled that judicial proceedings of all courts and tribunals are beyond the purview of the Right to Information Act.The bench said 'The Judiciary is independent and all courts and tribunals must work independently and without interference.
Taking note of two files which had reference to the destruction of the file, as produced by the PMO during the hearing, Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah directed the Prime Minister's Office to provide its copies to Dhar within a week
The Central Information Commission has directed the President's Secretariat to furnish 'file notings' on its decision to seek Election Commission's opinion on a petition against a cabinet minister.
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.
Acting on an Right to Information application, the commission asked the MEA to furnish the records by June 29.
The government has said the changes will be 'clarificatory'.
During the hour-long proceedings, the ministry was at the receiving end as it failed to explain its reasoning that providing the documents could lead to unrest in the country, including in Netaji's home state of West Bengal.
Amid the row over her educational qualification, Union Minister Smriti Irani had asked the Delhi University not to disclose it to an RTI applicant, the School of Open Learning has told the Central Information Commission.
The CIC order came on an appeal filed by a citizen in February this year invoking the Right to Information Act.
The UPSC filed a petition in the court challenging the Central Information Commission's November 13 order to disclose within two weeks the marks secured by candidates in the civil services (preliminary) examination this year.
The appointment of new expenditure secretary comes a month-and-a-half ahead of the Budget for 2020-21 to be presented on February 1.
The Central Information Commission has directed the FCI to allow its former official M L Kohli to inspect two vigilance investigation reports on him in its custody."
The order will be passed by a five-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices NV Ramana, DY Chandrachud, Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna on a petition filed by a Supreme Court Secretary-General challenging the January 2010 judgment of the Delhi high court.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday stayed a Central Information Commission order to Central Board of Secondary Examination to allow inspection of class 10th and 12th school records of Union Minister Smriti Irani.
Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu said government facilitates freedom fighters and gives pension but revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh are not even give the status of a martyr leave aside any financial support to their families.
The former information commissioner, who is known for his pro-transparency orders in several high-profile cases, said the proposed changes "seriously undermine" the autonomy of information commissions.
The new rules have given discretion to government to decide on allowances or service conditions not specifically covered by the 2019 rules which would be 'binding'.
Former Central Board of Direct Taxes chief K V Chowdary and Information Commissioner Vijai Sharma were on Monday appointed Central Vigilance Commissioner and Chief Information Commissioner, posts which have remained vacant for over nine months on which the government drew some flak.
The Central Information Commission has directed the PMO to answer the question within 15 days.
He is seeking disclosure of correspondence between the Central Bureau of Investigation and the law ministry and opinion of the attorney general in the case.
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.
The Central Information Commission has directed the sports body and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to explain.
The CIC's directive came while deciding on a plea by Lucknow-based activist Nutan Thakur, who had based her RTI application on some media reports that RBI deputy governor Viral Acharya in a lecture in 2017 had said accounts of some loan defaulters have been sent to banks for resolution.
The Walmart case came before the CIC on a plea by activist Subhash Agrawal.
The move followed after the Central Information Commission had in June held that six national parties -- Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI-M, CPI and BSP -- have been substantially funded indirectly by the central government and were required to appoint Public Information Officers as they have the character of a public authority under the RTI Act.
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.
The CPIO had rejected the three RTI queries on the ground that the Rs 10 Postal Order meant for fees for providing the information, was blank in one and in the other two cases, they were made out in favour of the CPIO.
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.
Listing out the achievements of his government, he said the country has moved away from a culture of delaying work through 'atkana, latkana and bhatkana' (obstructing, delaying and misguiding).
The commission has also sought records related to the termination of the deal to be presented before it in an in camera proceedings for its perusal before deciding whether they can be disclosed under the RTI Act or they attract its exemption clauses.
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.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday discussed the strategy to be adopted in the monsoon session of the Parliament on issues such as Telangana and proposed amendments in the Right to Information Act.
'We have to rise over our divisions.' 'Divisions within us allow unscrupulous politicians to divert attention from issues like corruption and governance.'
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