A panel headed by PM Modi and including Rahul Gandhi will meet to decide on the next Chief Information Commissioner and information commissioners for vacant positions at the Central Information Commission (CIC).
The Assam Cabinet has decided to request the Gauhati High Court to establish a fast-track court to expedite the trial in the Zubeen Garg death case, following a request from the singer's family.
The Central Information Commission, which is functioning at full strength for the first time after December 2016, will need to consider 31,000 appeals and complaints. It takes more than a year for a matter to be heard by the Commission.
Sources said the Leader of Opposition sought more details of the appointees and is learnt to have questioned the criterion adopted for the selection of Chief Information Commissioner and eight other Information Commissioners.
The Central Information Commission (CIC) attains its full strength after nine years with the appointment of Raj Kumar Goyal as chief and eight other information commissioners.
Dismissing Gandhi's claims, the sources said eight names were finalised for filling the vacancies in the Central Information Commission (CIC) by the three-member committee.
The Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Income Tax Department to disclose 'generic details of the net taxable income/gross income' of an estranged husband to his wife for pursuing maintenance proceedings. The commission stated that such information cannot be denied on privacy grounds in matrimonial disputes.
The Centre informed the Supreme Court that a panel led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet on December 10 to select and recommend names for the post of Chief Information Commissioner and information commissioners of the Central Information Commission (CIC).
This comes a day after President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, which replaces the MGNREGA and has a provision for 125 days of wage employment for rural workers.
Assam Chief Information Commissioner Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta resigned after an RTI request sought data on government funds given to his brother, who is linked to the death of singer Zubeen Garg. Mahanta cited his conscience and the need to avoid suspicion as reasons for his resignation.
Musician Shakharjyoti Goswami and singer Amritprabha Mahanta were arrested in connection with the death of singer Zubeen Garg. The arrests follow an ongoing investigation into the circumstances surrounding Garg's death in Singapore.
The festival organiser, Garg's manager and two band members -- Goswami and Amritprabha Mahanta -- have been arrested in the case and sent to 14 days of police remand.
A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the probe into the death of Assamese singer Zubeen Garg from the state police's SIT to a central agency such as the CBI or the NIA.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax (I-T) Department are likely to join the Assam Police in investigating alleged organised financial crimes and acquisition of benami properties by event manager Shyamkanu Mahanta, an accused in the death of Assam's cultural icon Zubeen Garg.
Assam Police have filed a murder charge against Zubeen Garg's manager and a festival organizer in connection with the singer's death in Singapore. The investigation is ongoing, with authorities seeking cooperation from Singaporean officials.
'He was walking on the road when a car coming from Bhogpur hit him. He suffered head injuries and was taken to a private hospital where he died in the evening'
'VS was a man who devoted every moment of his life, from the beginning till his death at the age of 100, to the struggle against the injustices inflicted upon land, nature and the common man.'
There is a great need to introduce a transparent process to select information commissioners, who are expected to oversee transparency, says former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi.
'The government does not want to be transparent or accountable. Therefore, they do not want to appoint information commissioners.'
Former media advisor to Prime Minister Deepak Sandhu and former secretary in the Union government Sushma Singh were sworn in, on Wednesday, as new information commissioners at the Central Information Commission.
In this freewheeling interview with rediff.com's Priyanka, IC Gandhi says that appellants must understand that law describes 'information' as something which 'exists', and only those can be given out.
Chief Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi has written to Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia about his recent remarks that irrelevant RTI queries hampered the work of judiciary, saying this may "dampen the RTI journey" of the country.
Deepak Sandhu, who has been an information commissioner for the last four years at the Centre, on Thursday became the first woman Chief Information Commissioner of the country.
'By extending the definition of 'personal' to include institutions and not just individuals, the State has equipped itself with a tool to block access to most kinds of information.'
Official sources said the name of Tiwari, a 1969 batch IAS officer and former secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training, has been cleared and forwarded to the President for appointment as successor to Habibullah who demits office on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court of India has sought the government's response on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that challenges the appointment process of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), arguing it's unconstitutional. The PIL, filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, claims the current process, solely through executive appointment by the Prime Minister, undermines the CAG's independence and violates constitutional principles. The court, while acknowledging the importance of institutional trust, questioned the extent to which it should intervene in the appointment process and whether this would constitute rewriting constitutional provisions. The PIL suggests the CAG's appointment should be similar to other independent bodies, with a selection committee comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, and Chief Justice of India. The case has implications for the independence and transparency of India's audit system.
In a letter to Information Commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu, Kejriwal said he does not object to government records about him being made public and wondered why the commission wants to "hide" information on Modi's educational degree.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti noted that a separate bench of the apex court had junked the plea filed by AAP leader Sanjay Singh on April 8 in the same case, who is a co-accused in the case.
Top Canadian officials have reportedly admitted to leaking details about India's interference to The Washington Post, but these specifics were not shared with Canadians, The Globe and Mail newspaper reported.
Samariya, the first Dalit to have been appointed to the post, was working as information commissioner in the transparency panel Central Information Commission (CIC). A 1985-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Telangana cadre, Samariya retired after serving as the labour and employment secretary in the Government of India. He was sworn in as the information commissioner on November 7, 2020.
Earlier in the day, rich tributes were paid to Yechury at the Communist Party of India (Marxist) headquarters at the AKG Bhavan here, where his mortal remains were brought from his residence in the morning.
Chowdhury said the voice of the Opposition has been "ignored" and that is not good for democracy.
Ahead of the meeting of the prime minister-chaired high powered panel for selection of Election Commissioners, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has written to the Law Ministry seeking details of short-listed candidates along with their 'dossiers'.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday attacked the Congress, saying it skipped the meeting convened to select the new Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) as he is a Dalit and this reflected the anti-Scheduled Castes mindset of the main opposition party.
Former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer M G Devasahayam, who was one of the signatories to the representation on the credibility of electronic voting machines (EVMs), voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) and the vote-counting process, had filed an application with the poll panel under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, seeking details of the action taken on it.
The outfit suggested that the government amend the Information Technology Act to classify all such content as pornography, which people should only be able to access by punching in their Aadhaar details or their fingerprints. Archis Mohan reports
Durve argued that the word 'secret' is nowhere in the exemption clause under which information could be denied to an applicant.
The apex court asked the Gujarat high court to decide within four weeks on a plea filed by the Aam Aadmi Party leaders seeking quashing of the summonses issued to them by the trial court.
'A large number of people from Sindh province will now opt to migrate to India as they would be granted citizenship through an easy process.'