Page 2 - Rti Act

SDM, revenue officials booked for giving incorrect information under RTI

An FIR has been registered against a sub divisional magistrate and two other officials for allegedly providing incorrect information under the Right To Information Act, police said on Monday. Acting on a complaint by Parshuram Rai of Kothia village of Narhi police station area, a case was registered against SDM Sadanand Saroj, revenue officials Ranjit Singh and Tara Rakesh Anand posted in Rasda here on Sunday. Deputy Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Pandey said the case was registered on the orders of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court. Rai, in his complaint, alleged that he had sought information on six points from the sub divisional magistrate (SDM), Sadar on March 9, 2022. The SDM, however, gave misleading information to the complainant in violation of the Right To Information (RTI) Act, leading to fraud and forgery.

Rs 200 cr spent on salaries, facilities for RS MPs in last 2 years: RTI

Around Rs 200 crore was spent on salaries, allowances and facilities for Rajya Sabha MPs over the last two years with around Rs 63 crore spent on their travel alone, according to an RTI reply. In 2021-22, in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, the exchequer spent over Rs 97 crore on Rajya Sabha members. The amount includes Rs 28.5 crore on domestic travel and Rs 1.28 crore on international travel. Salaries amounted to Rs 57.6 crore, medical bills of Rs 17 lakh and office expenses of Rs 7.5 crore. It also spent Rs 1.2 crore on information technology assistance to the MPs. In the 2021-23, Rs 100 crore was spent in total which included Rs 33 crore in domestic and foreign travel expenses, according to the reply by Rajya Sabha Secretariat to a query filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by Madhya Pradesh-based Chander Shekhar Gaur. The Rajya Sabha Secretariat has said that during 2022-23, Rs 58.5 crore was spent on the salaries of members, while Rs 30.9 crore on domestic

Vande Bharat Express trains running at average speed of 83 kmph: RTI reply

India's fastest train, the Vande Bharat Express, has been running at an average speed of around 83 kmph over the last two years due to poor track conditions while having a permissible top speed of 130 kmph for commercial services, an RTI reply has revealed. During this period, a train on one route hit an average speed of 95 kmph. The train, which is built to run at a maximum speed of 180 kmph, has a permissible top speed of 130 kmph for commercial services, officials said. The RTI, filed by Madhya Pradesh-based Chandra Shekhar Gaur, said the average speed of the semi high-speed train was 84.48 kmph in 2021-22 and 81.38 kmph in 2022-23. The Vande Bharat Express is an electric multiple-unit train operated by the Indian Railways. It was designed by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation and manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. The officials asserted that the speed of such trains depend on the track conditions. While the Mumbai CSMT-Sainagar Shirdi Vande Bh

DOPT, PMO report sharp decline in RTI backlog by over 70%, says CHRI

The ministries of statistics and programme implementation and personnel as well as the Prime Minister's Office are the top offices to have reduced their backlog of pending RTI applications by over 70 per cent, according to an analysis of the Central Information Commission annual report for 2021-22 by a voluntary group. The report from Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) accessed by PTI shows that among other government departments, the Department of Space reported a 55.51 per cent decline in its RTI application backlog in 2021-22 vis-a-vis 2020-21. The Ministry of Mines reported a 48.79 per cent decline in RTI application, the textiles ministry reported a 42.29 dip while the Commerce and Industry and the Road Transport and Highways ministries saw a dip of 32.99 per cent and 30.88 per cent, respectively. In the Union Territories, Andaman and Nicobar reported an almost 87 per cent decline in backlog RTI applications, while Delhi reported a reduction of 10.25 per cent, the repo

Deal with RTI applications as per prescribed timelines: Delhi HC to NGT

The Delhi High Court has asked the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to deal with RTI applications strictly in accordance with the timelines prescribed under the law. Justice Prathiba M Singh, while dealing with a matter related to NGT's failure to respond to an RTI plea, said being a national tribunal, its RTI cell ought to function properly. In view of the fact that the NGT is a national tribunal, the RTI cell of the NGT ought to function properly. Needless to add, the RTI applications received by the NGT in future shall be dealt with strictly in accordance with the timelines and rules prescribed under the RTI Act and RTI Rules, said the court in a recent order. The counsel for the NGT told the court that now the tribunal has created a proper RTI Cell and the First Appellate Authority. The NGT counsel said the tribunal did not have full time staff in 2013. The RTI applicant had filed an application in March 2014 and sought disclosure of certain information on appointment to a certai

Plea before Delhi HC to declare PM Relief Fund as 'public authority'

A plea has been filed before the Delhi High Court asserting that the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund must be deemed to be a public authority under the Right to Information Act. The application was filed by retired Navy officer Commodore Lokesh K Batra in a pending appeal dealing with the issue of classification of the fund as public authority under the law. The applicant said the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF), headed by a constitutional authority (Prime Minister of India) and administered by joint secretary to the prime minister, has all the trappings of being a public authority, and thus prayed for disclosure of certain information pertaining to the fund. The applicant had filed an RTI application before the Prime Minister's Office in April 2020 seeking information concerning the creation of the fund, entrusting the fund to the prime minister and the selection of chartered accountant for conducting of the audit, among others, the application said. The Central

Collegium discussions can't be put in public domain through RTI, says SC

'Whatever was discussed in the collegium was not required to be put out in the public domain, that too under the RTI Act'

Right to privacy also encompasses public servants, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

The conflict between the RTI Act and the draft personal data protection bill needs to be resolved, says the communications minister

Effective use of RTI will help building a corruption free country: Om Birla

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday said the effective use of the Right to Information Act (RTI) will help in building a developed and corruption free country as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Inaugurating the 15th Annual Convention of Central Information Commission (CIC), the Speaker said the main aim of the RTI Act is empowering citizens, bringing transparency, getting system rid of corruption and taking democracy to the people of the country in the true sense. Addressing the two-day convention titled "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav: Citizen centric Governance through RTI", Minister of state for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Jitendra Singh said the non-domiciles and non-State subjects of Jammu and Kashmir will also now be entitled to file RTI related on issues related to Union Territory (UT) or agencies. Lauding the Commission for hearing petitions from newly carved out Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh during the peak of Covid lockdown, th

Expenditure on India's information commissions has fallen 91% in six years

Since FY17, the budget allocation for information commissions has shrunk by 82.7% from Rs 31.9 crore

Over 300,000 RTI cases pending in India, highest in Maharashtra: Report

The maximum number of RTIs were received by the Central government at 11 million, followed by Maharashtra at 8.6 million and Tamil Nadu at 3.6 million

Story in numbers: Mystery of unknown sources of political party funding

Known sources have been defined as donations above Rs 20,000, whose donor details are available through contribution reports as submitted by national parties to the ECI

Appeal in Delhi HC challenging order denying details of 2018 SC collegium

The Delhi High Court Friday reserved its order on an appeal challenging the decision of its single judge dismissing the plea seeking information on the agenda of a Supreme Court collegium meeting

RTI activist-contractor shot dead in MP's Vidisha, assailants escape

Ranjeet Soni, while working as a contractor for various government departments, used the RTI Act to get information, often for issues related to government contracts, police said.

Goa govt spent Rs 5.5 cr on brief swearing-in ceremony, reveals RTI query

Goa CM Pramod Sawant's swearing-in ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top BJP bigwigs lasted for less than 20 minutes and cost the state exchequer nearly Rs 5.5 crore

After 10-yr legal wrangle, Goa Guv brings Raj Bhavan under RTI ambit

The Raj Bhavan has been at the Centre of a controversy for nearly a decade now

Centre yet to appoint director of inquiry to probe Lokpal's complaints: CVC

More than two years after the Lokpal came into being, the Centre is yet to appoint a director of inquiry for conducting preliminary inquiry into graft complaints sent by the anti-corruption ombudsman

All private schools in UP now under 'Right to Information' purview

All private schools in Uttar Pradesh will now be under purview of the Right to Information Act and will have to compulsorily provide the information sought under the Act

SBI, HDFC Bank move SC against RBI directive to provide data under RTI act

The two largest banks of India feared that such a directive could be detrimental to their business operations and compromise the confidentiality of customer information

RBI's disclosure dilemma

While the RBI must respect the spirit of freedom of expression, we need to draw a Laxman rekha, and the RTI Act should not become a tool to bypass all confidentiality requirements under other laws