The commission also suggested that the government publish the cabinet decisions on its official website.
'We don't have a say which MP stays where. We prepare everything and allot according to the list we get from Parliament.'
Observing that the RTI Act is an effective device for making governance transparent, Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Saturday criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement favouring a "critical look" at the law and said his party was opposed to any such move. Advani said that only some time back, the government had showered praise on the RTI Act, saying it had brought transparency.
Despite failing to secure a simple majority in Parliament, we will continue to see him on TV, newspapers, magazines, bill boards, vaccination certificates, railway stations, bus shelters, airports, sea ports, on the highway and on rural roads, sighs A Ganesh Nadar.
Setting a new bench mark in transparency in politics, the Central Information Commission has held that political parties are answerable under the Right to Information Act.
RTI crusader Arvind Kejriwal, a key figure in Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption, on Tuesday accused the government of keeping the Central Bureau of Investigation out of the Right to Information Act's ambit so that it can arm-twist its political opponents. "The RTI Act clearly says that only security and intelligence related agencies can be taken out of RTI Act. CBI is neither a security agency nor an intelligence agency," he said.
Commission says that though Reliance Infra is a private company, it provides 'essential service' and hence comes within the ambit of the RTI Act.
The matter came up before Justice Subramonium Prasad who listed it for hearing on October 16.
Stay orders keep law out of citizen access even years after CIC rulings on opening market institutions to scrutiny
The Delhi high court on Monday directed Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale on Monday to apologise and pay Rs 50 lakh damages to former diplomat Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri, wife of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, for his defamatory tweets against her over the purchase of a property in Switzerland.
The Supreme Court had observed that issues of national economic interest; disclosure of information regarding currency or exchange rates/interest rates/ taxes; regulation or supervision of banking, insurance and other financial institutions; proposals for expenditure or borrowing, and foreign investments, could all, in some cases, harm the national economy, especially if released prematurely.
A senior police official, however, said Monday the charges against the 85-year-old in the Koregaon-Bhima violence case have not been dropped.
The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government, like its United Progressive Alliance predecessor, seems to be failing on suo motu disclosures under the Right to Information Act.
The government has ruled out amending the RTI Act to give immunity to political parties from providing information after the recent CIC's landmark order brought them under the ambit of the transparency law.
At a time when Sushma Swaraj is under fierce opposition attack for "helping" Lalit Modi obtain United Kingdom travel documents, her external affairs ministry has refused to provide any information about the passport issue involving the scandal-tainted former Indian Premier League boss.
Air India had stopped the practice of issuing tickets on credit to government agencies for the travel of their officials in December last year because of accruing pending bills.
"Every Indian deserves to know the truth and the BJP wants to hide the truth. The BJP believes the truth must be hidden from the people and they must not question people in power. The changes proposed to the RTI will make it a useless Act," the Congress president said on Twitter.
Here is an explainer on the functioning of the seven-year-old body.
'The prime minister has taken pre-emptive action by not appointing a Chief Information Commissioner at all to render it dysfunctional.'
'The bureaucracy is also hardening its stand and in most cases has realised that the commissioners are not really committed to transparency,' says former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi.
The data, which was shared by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in response to an RTI query from PTI, also stated that 686 children living in child care institutions (CCIs) have been infected with COVID-19 so far this year.
'It was specifically mentioned in the Gadgil Committee report that this particular area where the colossal landside happened now should be in the Environmentally Sensitive Area under Zone 1.' 'Zone 1 is the most important and ecologically sensitive area, and that it has to be protected entirely.' 'At least 90% of the Wayanad disaster is man-made.'
'Modi knows the people here are opposed to this project, but he is using the might of government to push this port down our throats.'
The report said Sasikala was allowed to wear her personal clothes and cook. A pressure cooker and spices were found in her prison cell.
'Modi is trying avenues to convince people why they should vote for the BJP.'
Taking a cue from the prevailing public mood against the political class, the Congress leadership -- Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi -- are said to have clinched the argument in favour of deferring the amendment to the Right to Information Act which seeks to keep political parties out of the ambit of the transparency law.
Political parties should not be brought under the ambit of the Right to Information Act by terming them 'public authorities', as this would not only hamper their smooth working but help political rivals to file pleas with malicious intention to seek information, the government told the Supreme Court on Monday.
The National Election Watch has appealed to all the Members of Parliament from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha not to support a proposed amendment to the Right To Information Act.
No decision has been taken yet by the government on giving immunity to political parties from providing information under the Right to Information Act as the six-week deadline by the Central Information Commission ends on Monday.
Against the backdrop of allegations of spot-fixing during IPL matches, Union Minister Ajay Maken said the Board Of Control For Cricket In India - the national governing body for cricket in India - should come under the ambit of the RTI Act.
An FIR has been registered against three persons including a block development officer after Amarnath Pandey, 55, an RTI activist and homoeopathy doctor, was fired at yesterday with a country made pistol, they said, adding he was admitted to a hospital.
Maharashtra transport commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar told PTI that the Porsche car was imported in March by a dealer in Bengaluru and from there it was sent to Maharashtra on a temporary registration.
Board of Control for Cricket in India's new president Shashank Manohar on Sunday says the Board does not fall under the purview of the Right to Information Act (RTI).
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.
Major political parties on Thursday vehemently opposed any move to bring them under the ambit of the Right to Information Act saying that facilities and subsidised buildings given for their offices do not constitute funding from the government.
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.
Every passenger gets 55 per cent concession on train journeys, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said regarding demands to restore pre-Covid fare concessions for senior citizens and media persons.
The ECI data covers 20,421 bonds worth Rs 12,769 crore. The ADR data, however, collated information on 27,811 bonds worth Rs 16,492 crore. The gap is nearly Rs 4,000 crore and involves over 7,000 bonds.
Tearing into the claims of the United Progressive Alliance about its flagship employment generation programme MNREGA, BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Tuesday alleged it had only "filled the pockets of Congress" and sought to debunk the much-touted RTI.
The records with a parliamentary committee can be provided to an RTI applicant once the report is tabled on the floor of the House, the CIC held on New Delhi, but exempted cases where documents are declared confidential.
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