RIGHT TO INFORMATION - 2010

January to April 2010

Compiled By K. Samu Human Rights Documentation, Indian Social Institute, Lodi Road, New Delhi, India State information panel asks state to pay relief to top cop (1) The West Bengal Information Commission has ordered the state home (political) department to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to Nazrul Islam, the additional director general of police (traffic), for failing to provide him the information he had sought under the RTI Act about the chief ministers noting on a complaint he had earlier sent to him about a few senior police officers. Islam, however, has shot off a letter to the state information officer saying the compensation amount should be paid to him by the State Public Information officer (SPIO) of the home department, and not the department itself, which will have to use taxpayers money for the purpose. The order to state home department to pay the compensation to the police officer was given by the state Information Commission on December 15, which set a months deadline for the payment. Islams ordeal began on June 4, 2007, when he filed an RTI seeking information on noting made by the chief minister on his letter of complaint against senior police officers and the action taken. On May 23, 2006 Islam wrote to the CM saying a vigilance inquiry had been initiated against him for acting in an impartial way. The police officer urged the CM to act against the then Chief Secretary A K Deb, Vigilance Commissioner Shyamal Dutta and the then IG (Vigilance) M K Mukherjee for their alleged involvement in corrupt activities. The Calcutta High Court too had directed the state government to quash the Vigilance inquiry and slapped it with a fine of Re 1. (Indian Express 1/1/10) Pardhis continue to suffer social stigma (1) Mumbai: Penury is just one of the problems faced by the Pardhi community in Maharashtra. The British termed them criminals under the Criminal Tribes Act 1871, which was repealed in 1952. Now, 58 years later, the Indian society and more significantly its administration continues to criminalise the Pardhi people. The community remains shackled by the stigma of being a thieving tribe. If one person commits a crime, everyone is picked up, everyone is thrashed. I ask, if someone commits a crime in some lane, do the police beat up all the residents of that area? Shivababu Kale hailing from a local Pardhi settlement asked at a public hearing at the St. Xaviers College here on Saturday. The hearing was presided by Balkrishna Renke, ex-chairperson, National Commission on Status of Denotified Tribes (DNTs), Government of India, and S. S. Suradkar, ex-Inspector General of Police, Maharashtra. National Alliance of Peoples Movements (NAPM) leader Medha Patkar was also present. Another plaintiff, Prabhu Kale said the community was spread over 43 locations in Mumbai. Many had migrated from the rural hinterland to escape police brutality. Steeped in poverty, with no education or social support, they are part of the large underbelly of Mumbai. In the city, the community lives in squalid quarters and are mostly at the receiving end of the Municipal Corporations demolition drives. They throw away the plates when we eat, take away our clothes and the school stationery of the children, Mr. Kale said. The municipality says, you cant stay here, go back to your village. But we dont have a village, said Arunatai Kale. Basic facilities like water, food and hygiene are beyond their means. One can of water costs Rs. 20. For an average family size of five, this comes up to Rs. 100. This is just the expense on water, when most of the Pardhis work as construction labourers earning around Rs. 50 a day. Those who put forth their grievances on Saturday said they had to wash clothes and often bathe with drain water. As per information gathered under a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by the NAPMs Simpreet Singh, the government does not have data on the population of the Pardhis. Despite a September 9, 2008, Government Resolution (GR) sanctioning temporary ration cards for the community, RTI replies arriving at the end of last year, from three different parts of the city, clearly state that the cards have not been issued, said Mr. Singh. The Pardhis are familiar with false assurances of rehabilitation and uplift from politicians hungry for their votes. Complaining of an unheeding government, Gowri Rathod demanded, Dont the poor have any rights? (The Hindu 3/1/10) Hands-off policy for govt on RTI pleas (1)

New Delhi, January 04, 2010 The government wont put out assets of bureaucrats in public domain but it also wont stand in the way of the information being given out under the Right to Information Act. A committee of secretaries tasked to formulate the governments approach on right to information applications seeking figures on annual property returns of officers has figured there was no policy role for the government. Government rules require officers to file annual returns listing their moveable and immovable properties. But these records are promptly stashed away because the government department of personnel for Indian Administrative Service, home ministry for Indian Police Service and environment ministry for Indian Forest Service officers does not have the manpower to analyse the information. The Central Information Commission had in June this year asked the government to present a considered formulation in terms of the system and technicality of assets disclosures and desirability of such disclosure in public interest. The commissions directions came on an RTI request seeking information on assets of a Cochin Port Trust employee. Cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar promptly set up a committee of senior bureaucrats to study the issue. But officials associated with the exercise, however, suggested they were surprised at the panels initiative. This was a simple and shut case, if someone had to take a decision. Someone makes a request under the law. The CIC was expected to deliver its decision as per the provisions of the act. Full stop, a senior official told Hindustan Times. We felt that the provisions under the (RTI) law were sufficient. There is no need for any decision at our end. Officials conversant with the information law concede that the act did not seem to bar providing such information. It is certainly a third-party information so the public information officer would have to seek comments from the officer concerned, evaluate the response of the officer and the stated reasons for withholding the information and take a call, an official at the ministry of home affairs said. This means that the decision on revealing information about property returns would be taken on a case-to-case basis, depending on the arguments presented for or against making the returns public. (Hindustan Times 4/1/10) RTI Act being used to dislodge CIC himself (1) Using documents got using the Act, Mumbai-based RTI activist Girish Mittal on Monday served a legal notice on the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Ministry of Personnel & Grievances (DoPT) saying that Habibullah, whose resignation is still hanging fire, is being accorded preferential treatment and that he should be relieved of his post immediately. Mittal's contention is that the Section 13(4) of the RTI Act says that the resignation of the information commissioners, including the CIC, becomes effective the moment it is submitted to the President of India and it cannot be revoked under any circumstances. Documents procured by him using the RTI Act show that the Department of Legal Affairs concurred with this view in the case of central information commissioner Omita Paul. ``Habibullah's resignation is not being accorded the same legal treatment as that of Paul,'' said Mittal. Paul was advisor to External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherji till general elections were declared in March 2009. She was selected as central information commissioner shortly before the Lok Sabha polls in April 2009. Paul took oath on May 13 last year and resigned on June 26, a month and a half after Mukherjee was appointed Finance minister. She was appointed as the FM's advisor on the very same day she resigned without waiting for the President's assent to her resignation as central information commissioner. The documents cited in the legal notice are part of about 350 pages which Mittal got in late November 2009 in response an RTI plea to DoPT. In December 2008 DoPT had denied having such documents and Habibullah had upheld this denial. In earlier years, PMO, DoPT and Habibullah had denied such information pertaining to appointment, retirement and resignation of Information Commissioners by citing the Official Secrets Act 1923. After serving as CIC for four years, Habibullah tendered his resignation on October 20, 2009 in order to become chief State Information Commissioner of J & K. He would have been the first to hold this post. However, on December 4, 2009, the Supreme Court served him a contempt notice for publishing on the CIC website a detailed reasoned order concerning the need for transparency in the elevation of high court judges to the SC. The SC said the order lowered the dignity of the court. Ever since Habibullah tendered his resignation, RTI activists are having a running battle with the government over the need for transparency in the appointment of information commissioners. The legal notice urges the Union government to take three steps to set right the wrongs: Firstly, give effect to resignation of Habibullah as CIC retrospectively from the exact date and time that it was tendered to the Secretariat of President of India. Secondly, recover the salary and other pecuniary benefits given to Habibullah in his capacity as CIC as it is public money. Thirdly, declare as null and void, all decisions taken and orders pronounced by him in his capacity as CIC after tendering his resignation. (Times of India 4/1/10)

SC: RTI Act doesn't apply to judgments (1) NEW DELHI: Can a judge be asked under the Right to Information (RTI) Act as to why and how he came to a particular conclusion in a judgment? No, says the Supreme Court. The apex court saw the mischief potential of queries under the RTI Act in relation to a judge and his judgments and a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice B S Chauhan firmly said that a judge speaks through his judgments and he could not be made to answer questions relating to his verdict in a case. "A judge speaks through his judgments and he is not answerable to anyone as to why he wrote a judgment in a particular manner," the Bench said dismissing an appeal filed by one Khanapuram Gandaiah, who had not even challenged the verdict in his case before an appellate forum. What he asked using an RTI query was why the judge concerned did not consider parts of his submissions, parts of the voluminous documents while additionally putting questions about other aspects of the judgment against him. Terming all these grievances as valid grounds for filing an appeal, which Gandaiah did not, the Bench minced no words in criticising the appellant for resorting to the RTI Act rather than seeking remedy before higher courts. Gandaiah had made an appliaction under Section 6 of RTI Act, which provides that any information possessed by a public authority under the Act has to be given to an applicant on such a request made either electronically or in writing. The District Judge had rejected his RTI plea. The Bench agreed with the rejection of his plea seeking information about the judgment under the RTI Act and said: "A judge can only speak through his judgments and he cannot be made to go on explaining why he took a particular view in a judgment." "Moreover, as the judge has given his views in the judgment, he cannot give any other reason for his judgment, RTI Act query or otherwise. No party has a right to ask the judge concerned through RTI about the judgment," the Bench said dismissing Gandaiah's appeal. (Times of India 5/1/10) Your tax return can soon become public property via RTI (1) Mumbai: The Right to Information Act (RTI) may yet come back to bite the hand of the citizen who is supposed to be its main beneficiary. In an order with far-reaching implications for privacy, central information commissioner (CIC) Shailesh Gandhi has suggested that your tax return your most intimate financial information which you may want to guard from gangsters or even a curious neighbour can soon become public property. If anyone asks for it under the RTI Act, the income-tax department will have to hand over the information. The order pertains to any information regarding tax assessments, returns, evasion and even notings by income tax officials submitted to the tax department. The case which opened the pandoras box relates to an RTI query filed by Rakesh Kumar Gupta, who wanted information regarding the income tax files and assessment orders of Escorts, a Delhi-based company, its chairman Rajan Nanda, various branches of the Escorts Heart Research Institute, and Naresh Trehan, a heart surgeon and former head of the research institute. The information commissioners order dated December 14, 2009, says that the information provided by a taxpayer to the taxman is part of his public duty and hence not subject to privacy laws. It says: Information provided by an assessee to the department for purposes of income tax assessment is information disclosed in relation to a public activity and, therefore section 8(1)(j) is inapplicable in the present case. The section relates to the right of public authorities to deny information to RTI users on grounds of infringing on the right to privacy. While the order is sure to be appealed against, its implications for personal financial data remaining private are huge. The CICs order did deal with the privacy issue, but dismissed it thus: Parliament has not codified the right to privacy so far, hence in balancing the right to information of citizens and the individuals right to privacy the citizens right to information would be given greater weightage. The order, moreover, dismisses the concept of privacy as a cultural notion, related to social norms, and different societies would look at these differently. The order signed by Shailesh Gandhi takes into consideration some of the other prominent sections of the RTI Act under which details are denied to information seekers. These include information held under a fiduciary (trust) relationship, information that may impede the process of any ongoing investigation, and information that is of a commercial nature whose disclosure may compromise business secrets. So why was Rakesh Gupta seeking to learn about Escorts and Naresh Trehans tax files and incomes? Apparently, he was an informer for the tax department who collected rewards by giving information on people who may be evading taxes. It thus made sense for him to find out whether his information was leading to higher tax assessments and could yield a reward. Though this looked like a legitimate reason for Gupta to peek into Naresh Trehans tax returns, the downside is that you, too, are now liable to lose the confidentiality of your tax return. On the brighter side, if you are

planning to give your daughter in marriage to Mr Right, you can clandestinely check if his income is what was indicated. Mr Right may, however, feel wronged. (DNA 7/1/10) Court directs TNPSC to give information sought under RTI Act (1) CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has said that so long as information sought for under the RTI Act was available with the TNPSC and if it is not exempted under the Act, the Commission is duty bound to provide the information. Justice K.Chandru passed the order on a petition by the TNPSC seeking to challenge a show cause notice issued by the Tamil Nadu Information Commission (TNIC). K. Alagiriswami applied for certain information regarding recruitment to the Combined Engineering Services conducted by the TNPSC for the PWD. The service commission gave a reply. The applicant informed the appellate authority of the TNPSC that the information furnished was incomplete. The authority took the stand that the information sought for relating to marks obtained by candidates could not be furnished as it came under the exempted category under the RTI Act. Hence, Mr. Alagiriswami preferred an appeal with the TNIC. The TNIC held that the information sought for did not fall under the exempted category. It issued a show cause notice to the TNPSC. Hence, the present petition. Mr. Justice Chandru said so long as the information sought for was available with the TNPSC and it was not exempted, the Commission should provide such information. The present challenge was only to the show cause notice. Hence, it was for the petitioner to give an appropriate explanation within three weeks. (The Hindu 8/1/10) HC sets aside info panel fine on 5 officials (1) CHENNAI: In one stroke, the Madras High Court has set aside a penalty of Rs 25,000 each imposed by the Tamil Nadu Information Commission on public information officers of five different departments. Justice K Chandru, pointing out that the information commission cannot impose the maximum penalty of Rs 25,000 on these officials without hearing their version, remanded the matter back to the commission, asking it to issue show-cause notice to the officials concerned. The first case was that of the general manager incharge of Villupuram District Central Cooperative Bank Limited. Charging him with malafide denial of information, the commission had imposed Rs 25,000 as fine, and asked the bank authorities to initiate stringent disciplinary action against him. Challenging the verdict in the High Court, the official said he could not appear before the commission as he had to attend a meeting where 500 field officers from the entire district had assembled to finalise disbursal of loans. The managing director of the Salem division of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation was imposed Rs 25,000 fine, on the ground that he had taken more than 100 days to furnish an information, which was vague and incomplete. The official told the High Court that no reasonable opportunity was given to him by the commission. The Mettupalayam Municipal commissioner too was fined Rs 25,000, and the commission had asked the commissioner of municipal administration to suspend the official. When the commissioner rushed to court for relief, the RTI applicant himself said he no longer required the information as he realised that the municipality was not in possession of the documents. The CMDA member-secretary was imposed Rs 25,000 fine in May 2008. Assailing the order, the official said he was only an incharge officer at that time, and the information sought for was available with the Kancheepuram sub-collector. Also, the penalty was imposed without inquiry, he said. The fifth case was that of the chief engineer (general) of Chennai Corporation, who too was directed to pay Rs 25,000 penalty. This official too said no reasonable opportunity was given to him, and that the information concerned was not available with him. Justice Chandru said Section 20(1) of the RTI Act, which empowered the commission to impose fines ranging from Rs 250 to Rs 25,000, made it clear that the officer concerned should be given reasonable opportunity of being heard. The burden is on the officer concerned to prove that he had acted reasonably and diligently. "Section 20 is penal in nature. The section itself mandatorily provides for a reasonable opportunity to an information officer before inflicting him with any penalty," he said, adding that though the all the five officers concerned had a plausible defence the commission did not hold separate inquiries. "Unless the officer concerned is personally notified with the proposal of the commission to impose a maximum penalty, together with a direction to recommend disciplinary action, imposition of penalty may not be legally valid," justice Chandru said. (Times of India 10/1/10) RTI Act becomes new weapon in his age-old struggle (1) CHANDIGARH: The battle for his rights against Haryana government has grown old with him. And now, he has a chance of winning it with the Right to Information Act. Hari Singh, 85, of Kheri Jatt village in Haryanas Jhajjar district, was headmaster at a state school till he retired in 1982. But the running around

had just begun for him when he hung his boots. Sitting outside the office of Haryana state information commission in Sector 8, Hari Singh told The Times of India that government refused to pay his pension benefits for the service period from September 14, 1971 to March 9, 1979, stating he had been suspended during that particular time. Then began this freedom fighters 38-year struggle to get benefits. Singh said he applied with the state government to seek information regarding the records of his suspension thrice, but his request was rejected every time. He also sought answers from the state information commission twice, but did not find the replies satisfactory. In one of its answers, Haryana School Education Board refused to provide him with the records of his period of suspension, claiming that before 1971, the government school was under the control of a private institute and it was not possible to locate those files. I have full faith in the RTI Act, which makes the bureaucracy and elected representatives accountable. And this belief gives me the strength to come to Chandigarh, which is 280km from my home in Jhajjar, Singh added. Though it remains unclear whether he will be able to get pension benefits from government or not, some RTI activists see him as an example of how this Act is allowing people to see through the curtain of state secrecy. Lauding the faith of the octogenarian, citybased RTI activist RK Garg said, It is a good sign for the success of RTI Act that an elderly man from a remote area in Haryana is also aware about using it. Ram Kumar Singla, an advocate with Punjab and Haryana High court, said the Act had become the voice of common man and made government records accessible to everyone. (Times of India 11/1/10) 11K cases pending with info officers (1) MUMBAI: Even as the Right to Information Act (RTI) enters its fifth year, the information commissions across the state are struggling to clear the huge backlog of cases, which is apparently making applicants lose faith in the sunshine act. According to the record, a whopping 11,355 second appeals were still pending with the seven information commissioners across the state till November, last year. A second appeal is filed by the RTI applicant after both the RTI query and the first appeal gets rejected. An audit of the pendency of second appeals with various information commissions show that the information commission in Pune has the highest number of pending cases (3,723), followed by the Aurangabad commission with 2,667 cases. Amaravati and Mumbai division (including Nashik) come in the third and fourth rank with 1,762 and 1,126 cases. State chief information commissioner Suresh Joshi told TOI that the information commissioners' had improved compared to what it was in 2008 and the pendency figures have now come down from more than 15,000 to 11,355 appeals. "But RTI activists obviously want a faster disposal rate of appeals. All the commissions, put together, have been disposing an average of 2,000 cases every month,'' Joshi said. "Each of the information commissioners clear around 192 cases every month, but they should try to bring the figure up to around 350-400 cases every month if they are serious about clearing the backlog,'' said RTI activist Vihar Dhurve. Concurs RTI activist Milind Mulay: "The information commissioner should impose penalities on the PIOs who are not complying with the orders. If strict action is not taken, then PIOs will not even bother to provide the data asked for. Moreover, the appellate authority rarely passes strictures against the PIOs and they seem to be hand in glove with the PIOs for denying the information,'' said Mulay. Bhaskar Prabhu, convener of Mahiti Adhikar Manch, said they have been fighting against the piling up of cases for the past two years. "We have been asking to increase their disposal rate to at least 20-25 every day. Chief information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi had shown the way by clearing more than 500 cases every month,'' Prabhu said. According to Joshi, the steep rise in pendency was because for the initial period of one-and-a-half years, the state had only one commissioner. "But now, we have improved our disposal rate and are better than the CIC. This year, we hope to reduce the gap even further,'' Joshi added. (Times of India 11/1/10) Water projects, dams worth Rs 40,050 cr pending in state (1) Mumbai, January 12, 2010: Even as the state deals with a water crisis, a Right To Information query has revealed that over the last 10 years water projects worth Rs 40,050 crore are incomplete. The details provided by the state water department to RTI activist Chetan Kothari said there are about 75 minor projects, 181 medium and 1,125 major projects pending at various stages of work in the 11th five year plan (2007-2012). Blaming it all on the scanty rainfall, the government was on the verge of declaring drought in some parts of the state in 2009. Also, the city is dealing with severe water crisis for the first time ever. The RTI revelation is shocking in the time when we are dealing with water crisis. The project cost escalates with time leaving taxpayers to pay for the same, said Kothari. He also said the irrigation water was not only necessary for farmers to grow crops but also for the commoner so that he does not

end up paying high prices for the ration. The list of incomplete projects includes over 1,200 major and minor projects relating to irrigation and dams. The project work started without prioritising them. There is a need to prioritise the projects to take them ahead, said Water Resources Minister Ramraje NaikNimbalkar. (Hindustan Times 12/1/10) Full Court to decide on RTI Act appeal (1) New Delhi: The Full Court of the Supreme Court would decide on filing an appeal against the three-judge Bench judgment of the Delhi High Court holding that the office of Chief Justice of India would come within the ambit of the Right to Information Act. The CJI, K.G. Balakrishnan, indicated this while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a farewell function organised for Justice Tarun Chatterjee, who retired on Wednesday. The CJI said that he had not read the judgment and he had seen only newspaper reports. Asked whether an appeal would be filed in the Supreme Court against the judgment, the CJI said that as on an earlier occasion the Full Court would meet. On Tuesday, the High Court dismissed an appeal from the Secretary-General of the Supreme Court challenging the decision of a single judge who held that the office of the CJI and the Registry were not different entities and the CJI was bound to furnish information in his possession pertaining to the judges. The three-judge Bench upheld this decision. (The Hindu 14/1/10) RTI activists want better protection (1) Upset by the brutal murder of RTI activist Satish Shetty in Pune on Wednesday, citizens using the Right To Information Act in Mumbai say the authorities need to answer some questions urgently. Bhaskar Prabhu, a prominent RTI activist, said, "Recent cases have put a question mark on people's security. In some cases they [government officials] are even revealing the names of whistle-blowers." Activist Milind Mulay said, "Instead of taking action when we bring irregularities to light, they claim there is no irregularity and leak our names. People then come asking for us." Mulay was shocked when two hawkers from his area came to his building to inquire about him. "They had come and met some people downstairs," he said. Activist Vihar Dhurve said that as more of the corrupt are exposed, those doing the exposing will be targeted. "We hear people threatening even greats like Anna Hazare," he said. "He is a big man, but what happens to people who are small and want to serve society? A witness protection programme or whistleblowers' act should be introduced." Worried, the activists have dashed off letters and emails to chief minister Ashok Chavan, protesting against the threats and attacks. "We are circulating an online petition demanding greater safety for activists, including preemptive action by the police," said GR Vora. But the activists do not have much hopes from the police. "No one will be caught and even if he is, they will have loopholes in the case and he will go free," said Dhurve. Vijay Kuvlekar, Pune information commissioner, said "This is shocking and serious. Why it happened should be found and quick punishment meted out, else the spirit of the RTI Act will be hampered." Central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said, "I am sure RTI activists around the country will pursue the exposure of those bleeding society with greater vigour. This would be the best tribute to Satish Shetty and an effective warning to those who expect to silence the voices of those who expose criminal actions which harm citizens." (DNA 15/1/10) Alarmed by attacks on activists, High Court takes govt to task (1) MUMBAI: A day after an RTI activist was hacked to death in Pune, the Bombay high court on Thursday sought answers from the state government about steps have they taken. Alarmed by the two attacks on activists within a week some hooligans shot at Mumbai-based activist Nayana Kathpalias house at Churchgate last Friday a division bench of Justice F I Rebello and Justice J H Bhatia said it could not close its eyes to the incidents. Such incidents, in our opinion, are (aimed at) dissuading public-spirited citizens and social activists from approaching the court to highlight illegalities, said the bench. The court has now directed the state government and the director-general of police to file a report within two weeks on the status of investigations in both the cases. Taking suo motu notice of the TOI report about the Pune murder, the judges asked the government to file an affidavit on the steps it proposed to take to tackle the threats that social activists across the state faced. The court took note of the attacks while hearing a petition filed by aPune-based doctor, alleging that a police inspector had threatened him, asking him to withdraw a PIL. We are very serious about those who issue threats to activists and those who approach the court, said the judges, asking the medical practitioner to request the Pune police commissioner for protection. State home minister R R Patil blamed the land mafia for the attack on the Pune activist. It is a

serious issue. In urban areas, with the cost of plots shooting up, land mafias are once again rearing their heads. We will cut them to size. The HC order was welcomed by activists who have been raising the issue of the spate of attacks on them in the last few years. This will restore the confidence of citizens who fight battles against those with vested interests, many of them having strong political backing, said environmental activist Sumaira Abdullali, who was present in the court in connection with another case. Abdulali herself was attacked in 2004 while she was protesting against the sand mining in Kihim. The attacks on activists are not a sudden occurrence. However, the state chose to remain indifferent to the complaints lodged by the activists, many of whom have given specific information on the people threatening them, said Abdulali. (Times of India 15/1/10)

Custody for 3 in RTI activist murder case (1) PUNE: Three persons were sent on Saturday to police custody till January 25 in connection with the murder of RTI activist Satish Shetty (39). The three were identified as Vijay Dabhade, Parshuram Telugu and Pramod Waghmore. Dabhade is a lawyer, Waghmore is a clerk in his office, while Telugu was one of Dabhades clients, Bhausaheb Andhalkar, an officer of the Pune Rural polices local crime branch heading one of the five teams probing the case, told The Hindu. They were produced before the Wadgaon Maval Judicial Magistrate First Class. Mr. Andhalkar said a tiff between Dabhade and Shetty dated back to 2002. In 2008, Dabhade was charged for attempting to murder Shetty. The victims younger brother Sandeep said Shetty had exposed the irregularities in the construction of Dabhades bungalow. He, however, told The Hindu he did not think these people were involved in the murder. The police have a theory, but they are yet to prove anything. They havent conducted any inquiries about the main suspects I had named in my statement. Mr. Sandeep said his brothers murder had to be the handiwork of an influential person. Only someone who has money and clout would dare to attack him. (The Hindu 17/1/10) SC rejects PIL seeking information on anti-sexual harassment panel (1) New Delhi, January 18, 2010: The Supreme Court today rejected a PIL which wanted to know whether the apex court had appointed any committee to deal with "sexual harassment" of women advocates in the premises and complied with various guidelines framed under the RTI Act. A bench of Justices B Sudershan Reddy and Surinder Singh Nijjar directed the petitioner Gopal Sankarnarayanan, advocate appearing on behalf of NGO "Youth For Equality", to file an appropriate application before the Supreme Court registry for the information sought. In his brief argument, Sankarnaryan argued the Supreme Court, in the Visakha case, had directed all public institutions to set up special committees to deal with sexual harassment of women employees at their work places. He pointed out that since the Supreme Court itself was a public authority within the definition of the RTI Act, it was necessary for the apex court to constitute such a committee to deal with "sexual harassment" of women advocates at work place. "It is unclear whether the Supreme Court has implemented the sexual harassment guidelines laid down in Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, (1997) 6 SCC 241 and constituted a complaints committee as had been directed in that case," the petition submitted.(Hindustan Times 18/1/10) RTI activist seeks probe into KGH units functioning (1) VISAKHAPATNAM: Right to Information Act (RTI) activist K. Venkataramana, secretary of Samachara Hakku Rakshana Vedika, raised several issues relating to the CT scan and radiotherapy cobalt units at King George Hospital. At a press conference here on Monday, he said after seeking information through the RTI Act the functioning of the CT scan that had been reported to be not functioning on an average for a week every month had improved now. However, some scans were being done without valid authorisation, he alleged. Based on the information he had obtained, he had submitted a memorandum to the District Collector seeking a vigilance inquiry. (The Hindu 19/1/10) Railways asked to pay Rs 1 lakh to RTI applicant (1) NEW DELHI: In a significant order, the CIC has awarded compensation of Rs 1 lakh to an RTI applicant who was not informed about his marks in an examination conducted by the railways. The commission also penalised the information officer of North-Eastern Railways Rs 25,000 for giving misleading information. Applicant Majid Hussain had moved the CIC after his repeated requests for information pertaining to the marks obtained by him in the selection process conducted by North-Eastern Railways,

Lucknow (2005-06), remained unanswered. "The appellant has indeed suffered detriment in seeking information which is critical for securing justice. The respondent is, therefore, liable to pay a compensation of Rs 100,000 for all kinds of losses, including mental harassment, career opportunities, suffered by the appellant," M M Ansari, information commissioner, said. "The DRM, Lucknow, Ashok Kumar Singh is directed to deduct Rs 25,000 from the salary of the public information officer, Jagdish, in five equal instalments of Rs 5,000 each, with effect from February 2010," Ansari added while delivering the order. Ansari said that on the pretext of violation of service rules, Hussain, a graduate, was demoted as he was using his rights to know why he was discriminated against and deprived of promotion. The CIC had earlier issued a showcause notice to North-Eastern Railways in the case to explain their position. (Times of India 20/1/10) RTI Act: commission fines official (1) Raichur: The State Human Rights Commission has imposed a fine of Rs. 25,000 on Shivaraj M. Jyothi, District Social Welfare Officer, for violating the Right to Information Act. The commission has also recommended that the Government initiate action against the official for the neglect shown by him during an inquiry. According to official sources, last year, C. Muralikrishna, a resident of Ambedkarnagar here, had submitted an application under the RTI Act to the Social Welfare Department requesting it to provide information on some schemes implemented by the department. However, the department failed to provide any information to the applicant within the stipulated period. On a complaint from the applicant, the commission wrote a letter to Mr. Jyothi in April last year directing him to release the necessary information within 15 days. But Mr. Jyothi refused to provide the information, and even failed to respond to repeated directions from the commission. Despite being issued a show-cause notice, the official failed to act. The commission then asked Sameer Sukhla, Chief Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat, to give strict directions to Mr. Jyothi to release the necessary information. Accordingly, Mr. Sukhla served a notice on Mr. Jyothi, but to no avail. In his order, H.N. Krishna, Commissioner of the State Human Rights Commission, fined Mr. Jyothi and also recommended action against him. (The Hindu 21/1/10) HC seeks info which slain RTI activist had obtained (1) The Bombay High Court today sought all the information which Talegaon-based social activist Satish Shetty -- who was killed on January 13 -- had obtained through Right to Information Act. Last week the court took suo motu (on its own) notice of Shetty's murder, which was preceded by attack on social activist Naina Kathpalia's house in Mumbai a few days earlier. Today, the division bench of justice FI Rebello and justice JH Bhatia referred to newspaper reports that Shetty's murder had connection with his crusade against illegal constructions, and said that "the court should pursue these matters".Judges also appointed senior counsel D Madon as amicus curie to assist the court, and directed the government to provide him copies of the (documentary) information which Shetty had been given under RTI. Meanwhile, in an affidavit filed before the court, acting director general of Police Anami Roy has said that names of six persons have come to light during probe into Shetty's murder, and three of them have been arrested. In another affidavit, state home secretary Chandra Iyengar has stated that police have been given instructions to act promptly whenever any social activist complains of threat.(DNA 21/1/10) SC challenges HC on bringing CJI under RTI (1) New Delhi, Jan 23: The Supreme Court is believed to have filed an appeal before itself challenging the judgement of the Delhi High Court holding that the office of the Chief Justice of India came under the ambit of the RTI Act. Highly placed sources on Saturday said that the appeal against the January 12 verdict has been filed after there was unanimity among the judges of the apex court on challenging the verdict. Sources said CJI K G Balakrishnan had consultation with other apex court judges on the issue and the grounds taken by it in the appeal are identitical to the stand taken in the high court that disclosure of information held by the CJI would hamper independence of judiciary. They said attorney general would argue the matter on behalf of the apex court registry when it is expected to be listed for hearing shortly. Sources said the apex court would seek stay of the operation of the high court direction and would plead for referring it before a larger bench or to the constitution bench.(Central Chronicle 21/1/10) Keep selection process of judges out of RTI purview: ex-CJI (1) Bangalore: Certain areas of the functioning of the judiciary, including the process of selection of judges, should be kept out of the purview of Right to Information (RTI) Act in the interest of the independence of

the judiciary, said Justice Rajendra Babu, the former Chief Justice of India and the former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission. Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of a conference on Protection of Traditional Knowledge/Traditional Cultural Expression Evolving a Sui-Generis Model for India at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) here on Monday, he said certain areas of the judiciary cannot be thrown open to public scrutiny and it is not necessary. Asked about the office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is a public authority that comes within the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, he said certain areas such as confidential and sensitive information gathered by the CJI on the appointment of judges, should be kept outside the ambit of the RTI Act. Information on areas such as decision-making, the process of selection of judges and the movement of files cannot be made available under the RTI. The ultimate decision can be known to the public, he said. The CJI discharges various functions and when you make selection of a judge, you have to get information from various sources, not from one source. Some people give confidential information. Can he disclose it? Justice Rajendra Babu recalled an incident during his tenure when he asked a Supreme Court judge whether to appoint a particular person as a judge. You know what he told me? If you ask me in writing, I will say yes and if you ask me orally, I will say no. How do you deal with it? Justice Babu, who is holding a Chair on Human Rights at NLSIU, said information such as institutional decisions by the CJI, taken after gathering inputs at different levels, should be kept out of the RTI purview and such revelation amounts to throwing them to the wolves. On Supreme Court judge V.S. Sirpurkar heading a three-member committee to investigate the grounds for impeachment of Karnataka Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran on corruption and land-grabbing charges, the former CJI said the legal process should take its own course. (The Hindu 26/1/10) Report of Polygraph test can be disclosed: CIC (1) New Delhi, Jan 25: The reports of lie-detector tests conducted by investigative agencies can be disclosed under the RTI Act once the inquiry gets completed, the Central Information Commission has held. Information Commissioner Sushma Singh directed the Delhi Police to provide "full report of the Polygraph test of the suspects" to Captain K S Dadhwal who had filed an RTI application seeking the same in a criminal case. The Delhi Police had refused to disclose the report in their initial reply. Later, they had provided the gist of the test saying that the analysis and evaluation of the Polygrams did not reveal deceptive responses. Dadhwal then reached the transparency panel which said at the time of seeking information, the investigations might not have completed but now since the inquiry is complete, the polygraph report can be given. "Now when the investigation is over, the respondents are directed to give the full report of the Polygraph Test of the suspects to the appellant within 15 days of receipt of this order," Singh said in her order. The lie-detector test or Polygraph test measures different parameters of human body such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, breathing rhythms, body temperature and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions. It works on the theory that false answers will produce distinctive measurements.(Central Chronicle 26/1/10) Use RTI with a sense of responsibility, says CIC (1) New Delhi: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has advised people to exercise "some restraint in the number of queries" filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act while criticising an applicant for lacking a "sense of responsibility". The CIC's advice came on an application filed by one Kanhiya Lal who had sought information regarding admissions into a Delhi government school. He had appealed to the CIC after he was unsatisfied with the reply of the city government's education department. In his order, information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi noted: "The appellant has used the RTI without a sense of responsibility and has asked 100 queries stretching it to 16 pages. The citizen has been given a right but he must use this with some sense of responsibility and sending 100 queries over 16 pages or more does not display any sense of responsibility." "A citizen must understand that it is in his interest that the government functions efficiently and it is not correct to try and overburden or pulverize the government's functions. In spite of this, the PIO (Principal Information Officer) has tried to give the information," he added. "The appellant was asked to identify what information had not been provided to him. He is not able to give any instance of information which he has sought which has not been provided," Gandhi observed. "A citizen must realise that he is asking for the government to allocate some resource to provide the information to him. Hence he must use this with respect or the fact that the government is responsible to all citizens and not just to him. Some restraint in the number of queries must be exercised by the citizens," he said. The information commissioner has even advised government officials to "offer an

inspection of the relevant files" to the appellant when such long RTI queries are made "instead of trying to spend a lot of time and diverting the resources significantly". However, under the RTI Act 2005, there are no provisions on the number of queries that can be asked. Delhi-based RTI activist Bibhav Kumar said: "By this decision, it seems the information commission is acting as a consultant to government officials whereas it should try to get the applicant the required information. "Such orders will encourage government departments and give them an excuse that giving information would require diverting of resources that would ultimately deny information to the applicant," Kumar, who works for the NGO Kabir, told IANS . Gandhi himself was an RTI activist before he was appointed an information commissioner at the CIC. "I agree a citizen should not ask a lot of questions in one query. However, there is no provision in the RTI Act on the number of queries that a person can ask in one application. Such kind of orders by the information commission are against the spirit of the RTI Act," he added. "The government departments do not give information easily. And cases of an applicant asking for voluminous information are very few. We also need to understand what conditions force people to ask so many questions," Kumar said. "More than four years have passed since the RTI Act was passed, but a lot of government departments till date are not maintaining their information in accordance with the RTI Act," he added. (Pioneer 2/2/10) Apex court still cagey on sharing information (1) New Delhi, February 02, 2010: The countrys top court is unwilling to part with information about its functioning even after a Delhi High Court verdict on the Right to Information (RTI) called for greater transparency in the judiciary. The Supreme Court has refused to give information on the number of cases in which verdict hasnt been delivered after it reserved the judgment. The Delhi High Court, on the other, was prompt in sharing similar information. Commodore (retd) Lokesh K. Batra wanted to know the figures for such cases for 2007, 2008 and 2009 (up to December 15). In his reply, Supreme Court Additional Registrar Raj Pal Arora said on January 12 that data is not maintained in the registry in the matter sought for by you. The matters filed in the Supreme Court are pending/sub judice matters before the honble court till they are decided. The information officer even advised Batra to study the SCs rules and procedure regarding sub judice matters. Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan had in December warned that delays would lead people to revolt and the legal system to crumble. In 2001, the Supreme Court issued guidelines for the high courts and lower courts, asking them to pronounce verdicts within reasonable time. If a judgment is not delivered within three months from the date of reserving it, any of the parties can move the same high court for an early judgment, it said. Batra filed another RTI plea for information about cases where arguments had been heard prior to 22 December, 2009 and judgments reserved. Saying hell challenge the silence, Batra told Hindustan Times, The information sought by me is administrative. It has nothing to do with judicial proceedings. Supreme Court secretary general M.P. Bhadran said he didnt know what the information officer had said but we do not maintain such data. The Delhi High Court told Batra that in six cases judgments were reserved prior to December 31, 2007. There were four such cases in 2008 and 367 cases the next year, the courts information officer said in a January 27 reply.(Hindustan Times 3/2/10) Students can request for answer sheets (1) HYDERABAD: Disposing an RTI appeal by L. Srinivas , the Andhra Pradesh Chief Information Commissioner C. D. Arha ordered that a student must be provided copies of his examination answer scripts upon request, according to a press release here on Wednesday. Dr. Srinivas, a post graduate student of Osmania Medical College appeared for an examination in October/ November 2008. When he filed an application to the Public Information Officer (PIO)/ Joint Registrar of Dr. N.T. R. University of Health Sciences for copies of his answer scripts, the request was rejected. An appeal against the order to the Appellate Authority and Vice-Chancellor was also rejected. They upheld the PIOs orders on the grounds that it was impracticable for the university to provide copies of answer scripts because they numbered nearly 8 lakh in all. Mr. Arha quashed the orders of both the PIO and the Appellate Authority. He said Dr. Srinivas had the right to a copy of his own answer script and to deny him that right was contrary to the provisions of the RTI Act. (The Hindu 4/2/10) Now, slain RTI activist's brother gets death threat (1) Mumbai: Twenty days after Pune RTI activist Satish Shetty was murdered, his younger brother Sandeep Shetty has told the Bombay high court that now he too is being threatened by some unknown persons. Sandeep, a Pune resident, attended the court proceedings on Thursday, where a division bench was

hearing a suo motu writ petition seeking government action in protecting social activists and people fighting for a cause. I am receiving threats since the past few days. I have several documents which can be useful to the court to investigate the case, Sandeep told the court through his lawyer. The lawyer also told the judges that Sandeep does not trust the police, and therefore would like to submit the documents directly to the court. A division bench of justices FI Rebello and JH Bhatia then directed him to handover the documents to amicus curie (friend of the court) Dinyar Madon. The court also questioned the state government on the progress in the investigation. Additional government pleader Nitin Deshpande informed the court that the police has arrested two more accused, while one is still absconding. Sandeep, however, informed the court that he is not satisfied with the probe being carried out. My brother had approached the police on several occasions, but they were of no help. I do not have faith in them, said Sandeep outside the courtroom. The investigation should be transferred to an independent agency. I also suspect political involvement in the case. Hence, I thought it would be safest to come to the court and express my grievance. He has been directed to file an intervening application in one week. (DNA 5/2/10) SC notice to registrar generals of high courts on RTI issue (1) New Delhi: The Supreme Court today sought response from Registrar Generals of all high courts on the issue of providing information on appointment and transfer of judges under the Right to Information Act. You may also want to see "We need to have views of the Registrar Generals (RGs) of High Courts as they have been getting applications on the issue," a bench comprising justiceB Sudershan Reddy and justice SS Nijjar said while issuing notices to all the RGs. The court was hearing the appeal filed by the Supreme Court Registry challenging the directions passed against it by the Central Information Commission (CIC) to disclose information on judges appointment to the apex court by superseding seniors. The apex court had also put on hold the operation of the CIC order directing it to divulge communication between chief justice of India KG Balakrishnan and justice R Raghupathy of Madras high court on alleged interference by a Union minister in a sub-judice matter. The court has already issued notice to the RTI applicant on whose plea the CIC has passed the orders. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the RTI applicant, had assailed the decision of the apex court for directly moving before itself by sidelining the Delhi high court and said the Supreme Court, which favoured the transparency law for others, is stepping back when it comes to itself sending a wrong impression. Attorney general GE Vahanvati had sought stay on the CIC's direction saying several important questions of law arise in the matter which required urgent hearing. Bhushan had said all major issues relating to the case was decided by the apex court in another matter. The CIC, in a series of orders, has held that office of the CJI comes within the purview of the RTI Act and information held by the CJI should be revealed. However, Balakrishnan has consistently been maintaining that his office does not come under the ambit of the Act. The Supreme Court had on December 1 moved before itself a petition challenging the order of CIC which had directed it to divulge information relating to appointment of judges to the apex court and communication between CJI and justice Raghupathy. The registry has assailed the CIC's order contending that the material (information) held by the CJI was kept under fiduciary relationship and should be exempted from being made public under Section 8(1)e of the transparency law. Interestingly, deviating from the normal practice which was adopted by it in an earlier case on the assets declaration issue, the apex court this time sidelined the Delhi high court where appeals against the CIC's order were filed. The same legal issue on whether CJI's office comes within the ambit of RTI or not is pending before a full bench of the Delhi high court after a single judge had rejected the apex court's plea that all the information with CJI cannot be revealed under RTI.(DNA 8/2/10) Law Ministry has no record on supersession of judges (1) NEW DELHI: The government does not maintain any record of supersession in elevation of judges to the Supreme Court or as Chief Justices of High Courts. In a reply to an RTI activist, who wanted to know whether seniority was overlooked in the recommendation to elevate Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court Chandramouli Kumar Prasad, the Law Ministry said no record of such information was maintained and therefore data could not be furnished. The application by Subash Chandra Agrawal, filed in December last, quoted media reports about supersession of judges in making appointments to the Supreme Court, and sought a host of details: Is it correct that the name of Justice Prasad was recommended for being appointed Supreme Court judge? If yes, clarifications sought by the President before clearing his name. Are there any submissions/representations received by the President/Union

government against clearing his elevation? If yes, please provide copies of such submissions/representations. Has any representation/submission been received against superseding Justice Gyan Sudha Misra (Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court) in the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court? If yes, please provide a copy of the submission/representation. Names of others received at the Rashtrapati Bhavan together with that of Justice Swatanter Kumar for elevation to the Supreme Court; details of Chief Justices of High Courts where representations/submissions were received against their superseding others as judges of the Supreme Court; and details of Chief Justices of High Courts who could ultimately be elevated to the Supreme Court after being superseded at least once [like the case of Justice A.K. Patnaik, at present a Supreme Court judge]. Following the Law Ministrys reply, Mr. Agrawal filed an appeal to the Presidents Secretariat seeking the same information, after The Hindu published a report that the President had cleared Justice Prasads appointment to the Supreme Court. (The Hindu 9/2/10) Delhi HC to consider changes in RTI rules (1) New Delhi, February 08, 2010: The Delhi High Court has decided to consider changes in its Right to Information (RTI) rules to bring it in conformity with the Right to Information Act. The Courts move comes after an RTI activist contended that the provisions were inconsistent with the stipulations of the RTI Act. The amendments (suggested) are likely to be taken by the Full Court in due course. The process of amendments does take some time, a communication from the office of the Registrar General to RTI activist Anoop Prakash said. Prakash, a fellow at Centre for Civil Society, an NGO, had suggested inclusion of penal provision in the RTI Rules for action on denial of information under its transparency law. The activist had pointed out that the penal provision was deleted in May 2007. It was brought to the notice of the Registrar that the Delhi High Court (HC) charges exorbitant fees for providing information.The Delhi HC is likely to pronounce its judgement tomorrow on appeals filed by two convicts undergoing life sentence in the sensational Maulana Azad Medical College student gangrape case. The verdict will come five years after a trial court held convicts Rahul and his accomplice Amit guilty of raping the student in Jan 2005. (Hindustan Times 9/2/10) RTI query nails MCD on illegal banquet halls (1) New Delhi, February 10, 2010: How many times have you cursed the neighbourhood banquet hall and the umpteen weddings that take place there? How many times have you been stuck in the traffic jams that baraatis and others cause by parking their cars on the road? How many times have you wished to know if the hall was authorised or not? A recent Central Information Commission (CIC) directive to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) might be of help. The CIC has asked the civic body to update its regulations and related information about banquet halls on its website. The directive came after an RTI application was filed by S. Chandra to find out if the MCD has any fixed norms to allow the operation of banquet halls in municipal limits and the preventive steps if there are any operations in an unauthorized manner. Chandra, a Central government employee, also asked if the MCD had allowed such halls in residential areas, if any licence was needed and such related questions. In its reply, the MCD said it does not allow banquet halls in residential areas. However, since it did not provide the answers to all the questions, Chandra went to the CIC. CIC Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi took cognisance of the fact that the original application had made rounds of all 12 zones of MCD and respective health departments. The information provided by Shahdara South zone is revealing as it shows that there are 38 banquet halls out of which 35 are without any license and the three, which had ad hoc registrations, are in residential areas, Gandhi observed. On one hand, the MCD maintains that such halls are not allowed in residential areas, on the other hand, it has taken no action on such halls. It is revealed that in one year, not a single challan has been issued in this zone for serving food in these banquet halls without a license, Gandhi added. Criticising lack of centralised information at the headquarters, the Commissioner also directed the MCD to update information about challans issued against unlicensed banquet halls and also ensure that rules and regulations for the operation of any banquet halls be put up on the website. (Hindustan Times 11/2/10) Central information panel pays compensation for delays (1) CHENNAI: The laws delay may be an old clich but O. Shanmuganathan, a senior citizen, found that the Central Information Commission (CIC) set up under the Right to Information Act to ensure transparency is no exception to it after it took him nearly three years to get his case cleared. Mr.

Shanmuganathan, a retired official of the Chennai Port Trust, filed an RTI petition with the Ministry of Shipping in June 2006 asking for details regarding bunching increments. When the information was not forthcoming, he appealed to the CIC in November 2006. After repeated enquiries with the CIC over the next year and a half, he filed an RTI petition in March 2008 with the CIC asking for information on action taken on his appeal, to which the CIC said that his appeal was not traceable. He was asked to appear in New Delhi before the Commission in May 2008 and the CIC ordered the tracing of his appeal. The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) in the Ministry of Shipping was asked to supply replies to the queries and the CPIOs reply that the information had been provided in July 2006 itself was accepted. Against this, Mr. Shanmuganathan preferred a second appeal to the CIC and an enquiry through video conference was arranged in January 2009. During the enquiry, the CIC agreed that the complainants appeal had been misplaced by the CIC and the Information Commissioner directed the CPIO to furnish the information within two weeks along with proof that the information had been sent in July 2007. Not willing to accept the Commissioners statement that the misplaced appeal was due to the fact that the CIC was under-staffed and it was difficult to fix responsibility for the act, Mr. Shanmuganathan submitted a complaint seeking reimbursement of all expenses in February 2009. To this, a show cause was issued to the Secretary of the CIC in August 2009 as to why a compensation of Rs.10,000 should not be awarded to the complainant. After an enquiry, the Commissioner ordered the CIC to pay Rs.5,000 towards reimbursement of cost of travel, which was paid by Demand Draft to Mr. Shanmuganathan subsequently. Although he has obtained the compensation, Mr. Shanmuganathan says the statement of the Department of Shipping that it had replied to the complainant using only its own dispatch register as proof was not legally tenable. The case has been closed without giving details regarding non-compliance of the provisions of the RTI Act. This should be reconsidered by the Commission, he says.(The Hindu 11/2/10) 110 Lok Sabha members did not disclose assets: RTI reply (1) New Delhi: Even after eight months of their election to the Lok Sabha, 110 MPs have not declared their assets as against the mandatory provision to do so in 90 days which may amount to breach of privilege of the House. The Lok Sabha secretariat in an RTI reply has given the list of MPs who did not disclose their assets that includes former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, Kalyan Singh, Shibu Soren and Navjot Singh Sindu. The list contains the names of 44 MPs from Congress, 11 from BJP, nine from JD(U), eight from BSP, seven from SP, three from Trinamool Congress and two from Telugu Desam Party among others. The secretariat in a reply to an RTI query filed by Hissar-based social activist Ramesh Verma said repeated reminders have been sent to the MPs to declare their assets and liabilities, however, "no action has as such been contemplated against members from whom information is awaited". On the question of provision for action in case of failure to furnish details of assets and liabilities within 90 days of being elected, the secretariat said, "Kind attention is invited to provision of section 75(A)(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 which provides that the speaker, Lok Sabha may direct that any wilful contravention of the members of Lok Sabha (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Rules, 2004 by an elected members may be dealt with the same manner as a breach of privilege of the House." (DNA 14/2/10) RTI activist shot dead by criminals in Begusarai dist (1) BEGUSARAI: Unidentified motorcycle-borne criminals shot dead one, Shashidhar Mishra, a local RTI activist, at his Phulwaria village residence under Bararuni-Phulwaria police station on Sunday night. Sources said Mishra had just parked his bicycle and was about to enter his house when criminals riding a motorcycle came and shot him in his head. Mishra died on the spot. Mishra was also popularly known as Khabri Lal in the area for his knack to expose scams in the welfare schemes through RTI at the local panchayat and block level. He even earned the wrath of some local body representatives for using the RTI against them. While talking to TOI from the spot, Begusarai SP Vinay Kumar on Monday said preliminary investigations indicate different angles to the killing. He admitted the killing might be a fallout of Mishra using RTI against some persons. Besides, police are also working on the angle of Mishra reportedly having old enmity with a few persons. The other angle is, Mishra was also witness in the trials of some cases in the local court and had even deposed in those cases, the SP said adding the police are acting on all these angles to gather evidence. An FIR against three persons has been lodged in connection with the incident. Meanwhile, a mob of local people and some BJP activists made a bid to close the local markets in protest against the killing of Mishra. (Times of India 16/2/10)

Info panel orders probe into threat to RTI applicant (1) CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu State Information Commission has directed the Vellore collector to inquire into the complaint of a right to information activist that he was threatened by unidentified persons and asked to withdraw his application seeking information on old-age pension. V Gopalakrishnan of KK Nagar had sent his RTI application to the public information officer (PIO) of the Vellore district collectorate in February last year, seeking copies of certain records pertaining to old-age pension, widow pension and pension for physically handicapped from October 2008 to January 2009. In March 2009, Gopalakrishnan received a reply from the collectorate, asking him to pay Rs 21,600 as photocopy charges since the copies of the records he had asked for ran into 10,800 pages. The reply was not given by a PIO designated under the RTI Act, but by an another official in the collectorate. According to Gopalakrishnan, on March 12, two unidentified persons came to his residence, claiming that they were sent by a senior woman official of the collectorate. The duo then asked Gopalakrishnan to withdraw his RTI application or face dire consequences. "I wanted the copies of the records since I suspected certain irregularities. But I never expected that I would face this sort of threat. I can identify the culprits if I see them again," Gopalakrishnan said in his complaint to the state information commission. The commission summoned the tahsildar concerned and also the PIO, conducted a hearing on October 22, 2009 and passed its order on February 15, 2010. During the inquiry, the tashildar told the commission that the PIO was busy with other works and hence another official had sent the reply to the RTI applicant. He claimed that they had furnished about 650 pages of records free of cost since the information was not given within 30 days of the receipt of the application as stipulated by the RTI Act. The remaining copies would be provided soon, the official said. The commission, in its order, directed the Vellore district collector to personally inquire into the complaint, or authorise a senior officer for the purpose and file a detailed report within six weeks. (Times of India 20/2/10) In Bihar, death for RTI activist who knew too much (1) PATNA: When the government passed the Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2005, it should have added a statutory warning: exercising this right may be extremely injurious to health. Shashidhar Mishra of Begusarai, who was murdered by unknown assailants last Sunday, is the second RTI activist to be killed in a month for perhaps knowing too much. Attacks on RTI activists have emerged as a disturbing trend of late, especially in light of the murder of noted Pune RTI activist Satish Shetty, who was responsible for unearthing many land scams in Maharashtra. Mr. Mishra, a local RTI activist who worked tirelessly to expose corruption at the panchayat and block levels, was shot dead by unidentified men on motorcycles near his residence in Phulwaria village on the night of February 14.Village sources revealed that Mr. Mishra, who had acquired the sobriquet of Khabri Lal, had been proactively using the RTI as a tool for exposing scams. He incurred the wrath of some local body representatives in the process, a villager disclosed. Begusarai Superintendent of Police Vinay Kumar said that different angles to Mr. Mishras killing, including past enmity with certain people, were being investigated. An FIR has been lodged against three people, though we have not made any vital breakthrough in the case as of now, Mr. Kumar said. Mr. Mishras death has drawn fire from activists of the National Campaign for the Peoples Right to Information (NCPRI) and the Bihar RTI Manch, who have challenged the governments commitment to the protection of whistleblowers. The RTI Act has been sailing in rough seas for some time now in Bihar, with the State governments decision to make certain changes in the legislation citing procedural inconveniences drawing sharp criticism from activists and NGOs.Cases pertaining to harassment of applicants were being closed summarily without imposing penalty to the guilty officers, said Parveen Amanullah, convener of the RTI Manch. As per the Act, any officer refusing to part with information is penalised Rs.250 per day from his salary. The government has only dealt with 22 such cases so far, when there are several officers who have gotten away scot free, Ms. Amanullah added. In November, activists strongly objected to the Bihar cabinets decision which made it mandatory for Below the Poverty Line (BPL) applicants to pay money at the rate of Rs.2 per page for information exceeding 10 pages. Information for BPL applicants is supposed to be completely free as stipulated by section 7 (5) of the Act. The move is contrary to the spirit of the Act, Ms. Amanullah said. According to noted activist and Magsaysay Award winner Sandeep Pandey, the Bihar governments move only serves to obscure the truth. More importantly, the government has not substantiated with any data as to how questions asked by these BPL cardholders was causing them inconvenience. It is definitely anti-poor, Mr. Pandey added. (The Hindu 21/2/10)

RTI being misused, say govt staff (1) Bangalore, Feb 21, DHNS: Employees of the State government have raised voice against the Right to Information Act. Their main grouse against the Act is that it offers the public an opportunity to blackmail government officers by seeking personal information of the officials. The State government Employees Association has demanded amendment to the Act so that those who blackmail the officers can be punished. Association president L Byarappa, in a function organised by the Association, alleged that many habitual RTI applicants seek personal details of officers from the service register and blackmail them for money. They seek officers personal details pertaining to their attendance, copies of birth certificate, caste certificate submitted while joining the service. Based on their personal information they blackmail the officers and demand money, he said. The basic objective of the Act is to share information with the public. But in many of the cases applicants seek information which is not useful for the public. The Government should bring in amendment to the Bill so that such applicant can be punished, he urged. Replying to the Associations demand, Karnataka Information Commissioner J S Virupakshappa, said there was no need for honest and efficient officers to be worried over the Act. He said, the RTI applicants can blackmail only those officers who are dishonest. (Deccan Herald 21/2/10) RTI activist shot at in Thane (1) Badlapur, February 27, 2010: Two men shot and critically injured Right to Information activist Arun Sawant at Badlapur, Thane, on Friday. Sawant had gone to the Badlapur Municipal Council (BMC) to file an RTI application. The shooting happened on his way back, at around 1.30 pm, on Katrap Road, which is 100 meters from the Council office. Police Inspector A P Mokashi said Sawant was shot by two unidentified men who had been following him. Sawant took one bullet in the lower part of his back and collapsed. He was rushed to AIIMS Hospital, Dombivli, in critical condition, with doctors first trying to stabilise him before attempting surgery. Hospital sources said the next 48 hours are critical. Sawant, who once worked with the State Transport Corporation, left the job to work with labour unions. He left that 10 years ago and came to Badlapur, where he contested the council election and lost. He then began using the RTI Act to get information on both civic projects of the BMC, as well as local politicians he filed a writ petition against MLA Kishan Kathore and challenged his election. Sawant won in the high court; the case is now pending in the Supreme Court. Mokashi said: Well have a direction to go in only after Sawant gives us a statement, but the doctors have told us he is not in a position to do that right now. (Hindustan Times 28/2/10) Apex court refuses to answer RTI queries (1) New Delhi, Feb. 27: The Supreme Court has refused to answer several queries filed under the right to information law on whether judges of the top court conversant with the affairs of Karnataka High Court had been consulted by the Chief Justice of India before a decision was taken to elevate Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran to the apex court. The collegium, headed by the Chief Justice of India, had recommended Dinakarans name to the law ministry for elevation but it was stalled after allegations of financial irregularities were made against him by activists pushing for more transparency and accountability in the judiciary. The RTI questions, filed by activist Subhash Agrawal, had specifically sought to know whether Justices Markandey Katju, V.S. Sirpurkar and A.K. Ganguly had been consulted as mandated by an earlier judgment of the apex court. It had also sought a complete copy of records regarding Dinakarans proposed elevation. However, in a reply on February 23, the central public information officer of the Supreme Court refused to answer the queries, saying they were confidential and were exempt under Section (j) of the RTI Act, 2005. The officer said the information was neither held by him nor under his control, and hence, the request could not be acceded to under the RTI. The information officer pointed out that the top court had earlier stayed similar orders from the Central Information Commission (CIC) that wanted the disclosure of information on appointment of judges. At least two such orders passed by the CIC had been stayed by the apex court on December 4, 2009. While one order asked the court registry to share information on judges appointments, the other sought details of an alleged attempt to influence a judge. Agrawal had sought the information from the court, and had been turned down twice. He had then appealed to the CIC, which had ruled in his favour on November 24, 2009. (Telegraph 28/2/10) RTI activist's murder: brother seeks CBI probe (1) Mumbai: Seeking CBI inqiry into the murder of Talegaon-based RTI activist Satish Shetty, his brother today alleged that some big-wigs were involved in the case, whom "police can not touch". "We have

named these persons in the FIR...But state police can't touch them, even the superintendent of police is helpless," said advocate Vijay Nahar, appearing for Sandip Shetty, Satish's brother. The high court had taken suo-motu notice of Shetty's murder in January in Talegaon. Shetty had unearthed many land scams using Right to Information Act, and before his death he had complained to police that he was receiving threats. "Probe is being carried out in frivolous manner," advocate Nahar said today. However, division bench of Justice F I Rebello and J H Bhatia today only asked the police to continue the investigation, and asked Sandip Shetty to file affidavit regarding his misgivings about the probe. Hearing has been adjourned for two weeks. (DNA 3/3/10) RTI not going the right way in Karnataka (1) Bangalore: If you are not happy with the information given to you by a government agency in response to your Right To Information (RTI) application, and want the correct details, get ready for along haul. Thanks to the public information officers (PIOs) of agencies concerned, your appeal for better information filed with the Karnataka Information Commission (KIC), the appellate body, may take up to five months. PIOs are deliberately delaying the queries, says RTI activist MVK Anil Kumar. Due to this, the number of fresh appeals before the KIC is piling up.Ground realities can change during this waiting period, says SR Venkataram, an RTI activist. At present, 8,315 RTI queries are awaiting the KICs nod. In January alone, 1,713 new RTI queries came up before KIC. The number of appeals and requests pending for more than six months at KIC is 4,180, while 178 queries are waiting to be resolved for more than a year. The commission is staring at 7,800 cases. KIC directs the PIOs to hand out information to the petitioners. We do not close a case until the petitioner informs us the required information has been given by the civic agency. This leads to a huge backlog, says KK Mishra, chief information commissioner, KIC. The KIC also faces a huge manpower crunch. Although its sanctioned strength is 10 information commissioners, it has only three. Each commissioner attends to 12 new cases every day along with over 10 pending ones, says Mishra.Kumar believes the problem can be solved if the KIC takes the PIOs to task. PIOs should be fined for the delay. Theres worse. Not all RTI applications go to KIC. I have filed about 360 RTI requests and only 50 cases have reached KIC. What if all the requests came up before KIC? asks Kumar.(DNA 4/3/10) RTI: PM, Sonia exchange notes (1) New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi have reportedly exchanged correspondence over the issue of amendments to the Right to Information Act in the context of several court rulings, including one related to the Chief Justice of India. Ms. Gandhi wrote to Dr. Singh two months ago that she was of the firm opinion, like that of NGOs, that there should be no amendments to the RTI Act and the existing one should be properly implemented, NDTV reported on Thursday night. The Prime Minister, in his response, said there was a need for RTI amendments but all stakeholders would be consulted before any changes were made, the channel reported. PTI (The Hindu 5/3/10) SC to appeal before itself on RTI row (1) New Delhi, Mar 7 (PTI) The Supreme Court would file an appeal before itself in the next few days challenging the judgement of Delhi High Court holding that the office of the Chief Justice of India came under the ambit of the RTI Act. The appeal, though drafted more than a month ago, could not be brought on record before the registry due to a technical glitch but the same would be formalised after the court reopens on Monday after a week-long Holi recess, official sources told PTI. The sources said that CJI K G Balakrishnan had consultations with other apex court judges on the issue and the grounds taken by it in the appeal are identical to the stand taken in the High Court that disclosure of information held by the CJI would hamper independence of judiciary. Attorney General G E Vahanvati would argue the matter on behalf of the apex court registry when it is listed for hearing shortly.Sources said the apex court would seek a stay on the operation of the High Court direction and would plead for referring it to a larger Bench or the Constitution Bench. The sources said the appeal was filed after much deliberations as initially there were differences among the apex court judges on whether to go for an appeal or not. In a path-breaking verdict, the Delhi High Court had on January 12 held that the office of the Chief Justice of India comes under the purview of the RTI Act and rejected a Supreme Court appeal saying judicial independence is not a judge's personal privilege but a responsibility cast upon him. The verdict was being seen as a setback to Balakrishnan who has consistently been maintaining that his office does not come under the transparency law and hence cannot part with information like disclosure of judges' assets under it.

Holding that CJI is a public authority under the Act, a full bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice A P Shah said judges of the superior courts should make public their assets as they are not "less accountable" than the judicial officers of lower courts who are bound by service rules to declare assets. The Bench dismissed the plea of the Supreme Court which had vehemently opposed bringing CJI's office within the purview of the Act on the ground that it would encroach into its judicial independence. "Judicial independence is not the personal privilege or prerogative of the individual Judge," the Bench had said in its judgement. (Deccan Herald 7/3/10) Amending RTI won't help govt, judiciary (1) The genesis of the government becoming allergic to the existing Right to Information (RTI) Act can be traced to the day when the Central Information Commission took head-on the ministry of personnel, which is in charge of the entire senior bureaucracy of the country. It wouldnt be correct to say that the Centres zeal in changing the laudable law has been tailored by a series of judgments that has brought the superior judiciary within the purview of this transparency and accountability-centric legislation. No doubt, the government has gained strength with the superior judiciary. The judiciary had stayed put on its ivory tower for too long. But it started fumbling when it was asked to disclose vital information like selection process of judges, assets of the judges and communication between the Chief Justice of India with other functionaries who are squarely covered by RTI. That UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had shown her dislike for the governments obduracy in amending the law in order to suit the needs of secrecy-loving bureaucracy and judiciary is a matter of satisfaction for the concerned citizens. The symptoms of RTI becoming an eyesore for the government started in December 2008 when CIC indicted the weighty cabinet secretary (CS) and the department of personnel and training (DoPT) for using dilatory tactics in imparting information. No level in government is higher than the provisions of an RTI Act passed by parliament, the CIC had warned. The commission views the attitude of the DoPT and CS with some concern as they not only made wrong statements but had taken recourse to dilatory tactics in providing the information In fact, the issue boils down to an authority like the Cabinet Secretariat going against the sanctity of the very Act itself, it had added. The governments insistence on protecting itself and superior judiciary from the transparency law makes it a suspect in everyones eyes. (DNA 7/3/10) Info crisis: State has no reply to RTI plea on grass beds (1) Mumbai: Although the state chief information commissioner has asked alert citizens to monitor government projects through the use of RTI, not many are satisfied with the way their efforts have found support. The experience of Bhaskar Prabhu, an RTI activist and a member of Mahiti Adhikar Manch, an NGO that monitors government spending, has not been good enough. Prabhu filed an application to monitor the money spent on grass beds at tree bases on Dr Ambedkar Road in F/South ward. He also sought information on the expenses on iron guards around the trees. The details sought were for work orders worth Rs7.26 lakh that were passed in October 2008 and January 2009. The work was to be completed by March 2009. But the public information officer (PIO) did not respond to his April 2009 application in time. After the hearing at the first appellate authority (FAA) in May 2009, the applicant got misleading and incomplete information. They did give information of grass beds, but not the locations of the work. It was impossible to see if the work was completed, said Prabhu. There was no information of the 164 iron grill tree guards for which money was already paid. The ward instead provided information of roads that my application had not mentioned. The money set aside for the guards is 25% of the entire amount. When complained to the ward officer and deputy superintendent of gardens, around 20 guards were put and some petty penalty was imposed on the contractor. There is still no information to conduct the audit, a frustrated Prabhu said. When contacted, H Kale, assistant commissioner, F/ South ward, said, The file is not in my hand anymore. It has been given to some other officers. We have slapped a fine of Rs50,000 on a contractor. (DNA 8/3/10) Slain RTI activist's brother accuses Pune police of inaction (1) Mumbai: Sandeep Shetty, the brother of slain Pune RTI activist Satish Shetty, on Wednesday filed an affidavit in the Bombay high court alleging that a top businessman has played a role in his brothers murder in January. He also alleged that the Pune police is not handling the investigation properly and that the case be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The Bombay high court had on January 14, taken suo-motu cognisance of Satish Shettys murder and called for the investigation record. Sandeep, in his affidavit, alleged that his brother received threats at the behest of Virendra Mhaiskar,

chairman and managing director of IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited. Forbes magazine had, in 2009, declared Mhaiskar the 51st richest man in India. Headquartered in Mumbai, his road infrastructure firm has bagged the contract of maintaining and collecting toll the Mumbai-Pune. The affidavit stated that Satish started receiving threats after he exposed a scam involving Mhaiskar and one Nitin Sable in a 1800-acre land deal Taje and Pimpoli villages in Pune district. The affidavit also states that Satish had registered a complaint with police in this regard, but no action was taken. When contacted, Mhaiskar said, I have given my statement to the deputy superintendent of police. I have nothing more to add to it. Whatever transactions have taken place have been done in accordance to the law and everything is on record. The court also heard a submission made by social activist Sumaira Abdulali that she was attacked by a few people in Mahad in Raigad. The court sought a reply from the local police by Thursday. Tell us what action has been taken on the attackers by Thursday, remarked the court. (DNA 18/3/2010) Kashmiri H R groups did not file even a single RTI application: Wajahat (1) Jammu, March 21, 2010: The human rights groups in Jammu and Kashmir did not file even a single application under Right to Information to the national RTI commission despite being told that this was a forum to address this issue. Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah made this disclosure in an exclusive interview to Hindustan Times Sunday. He was surprised that no one ever came forward to list the issue of the human rights before the commission under RTI. " Not even a single application was filed by the human rights groups to the RTI commission in the past five years. In fact, I was surprised as even I told some of them that they could utilize this forum to seek information on these issues," Wajahat Habibullah said. According to him, the alleged case of the mass graves in north Kashmir, which the human rights activists have been raising and seeking international attention to that, was a " fit case to seek information under the RTI." Kashmiri political leaders of all parties, whether separatists or mainstream have always been al;leging gross human rights violations by security forces and petitioning the global human rights watch groups lioke Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for their intervention. He was briefly in Jammu while on his way to attend a conference on RTI in Rajouri, a border town, 160 km north of Jammu. Wajahat Habibullah, 1968 cadre IAS officer, who after his retirement joined as CIC of India, is a man with close ties with Kashmir, where he served as Divisional Commissioner in 1990s, and also initiated discussions with the militants holed up in the Hazrabat shrine in 1993. Before the matter could be resolved, he had met with an accident and suffered serious injuries on November 4, 1993. He was tipped to be first CIC of Jammu and Kashmir. But the failure of the government of India in finding a successor to him, made him to change his mind. " Now, I am not coming to Jammu and Kashmir," he said. Reflecting on the current situation in the Valley, where he himself had been caught in gun battles in 1990s, Wajahat said that the loss of the officers like Captains and Majors was an " alarming thing." " This is happening after a long time," he said and felt that the only way to stop all this was to " engage with Pakistan". 'Pakistan alone can stop it, because it is being done by Pakistan." (Hindustan Times 21/3/2010) RTI helps senior citizen get post back after 11-year-long legal battle (1) MUMBAI: Qamar S Qazis story could be representative of what may happen to some state charitable trusts that are mired in litigation as trustees fight to retain powerful posts. The Right To Information (RTI) Act came to the rescue of the 76-year-old Panvel resident who was ousted from the trust after he fought a 11-year-long legal battle. A former assistant commissioner of customs and central excise, Qazi was removed from the post of general secretary of Anjuman Tanzeem Achra, a charitable education trust, through a no-confidence motion in 1999. But the original papers of the trusts no-confidence motion, which were kept in the charity commissioners office, were substituted with forged papers in alleged collusion with office staff. Following this, the charity commissioners office passed an order to oust Qazi. It was only when Qazi applied to the charity commissioners office for a copy of the no-confidence motion that he discovered, to his horror, the documents were substituted. It was found that the attendance lists also had serious discrepancies; many members were dead or their names were fictitious and some were abroad when the alleged election took place. We found out that 80% of the signatures were fake. This was later confirmed by the additional chief state examiner of documents, Qazi said. On discovering the forgery, Qazi lodged a criminal case against the existing trustees at the additional magistrates court, Mazgaon, in 2000. The court directed the Dongri police to investigate the case and the police report established that a forgery had been committed. The court then ordered the police to file a charge sheet. However, despite directives from the magistrate, the charity commissioners office did not subsequently

take any action on the forgery committed by the existing trustees. Qazi then filed a query under the RTI Act, asking about the status of the case and it got rolling after 7 years. Within a month, I got a reply from the charity commissioner, stating that the earlier fake no-confidence motion passed by the trust had been set aside and a fresh inquiry had been initiated against the trustees, he said. Qazi also filed a writ petition, asking that the inquiry be completed within 30 days. The court directed the petition to be withdrawn, giving him the liberty to approach the appropriate forum. He then approached the charity commissioners office. The deputy charity commissioner set aside the erroneous order of the assistant charity commissioner and again directed another inquiry be initiated. Further, the joint charity commissioner in his February 22 order stated that some members who allegedly took part in the noconfidence meeting were not, in fact, present and quashed the earlier order passed by the assistant charity commissioner in 1999. Qazi, who has now regained the post of the general secretary of the trust, said that the RTI Act exposed the fraudulent methods used by the members to remove him from the trust. The RTI Act can bring about positive changes even in the way charitable institutions function in the country, he added. (Times of India 22/3/2010) Even RTI cant peep into husbands wallets (1) Raipur, March 23, 2010: It may be a good idea to tell your wife how much you earn, but you dont really have to if you are employed in the private sector. That, in effect, was the Income Tax (I-T) departments message to a group of women from Chhattisgarh who sought details of their husbands salaries, under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Encouraged by the success of Chhattisgarh resident Ritu Sharma in accessing details of her husbands salary last year, following a directive by the Central Information Commission, the women sought similar information about their husbands salaries. But their husbands firms refused, saying the companies did not fall under the purview of the RTI Act, unlike the National Thermal Power Corporation, the public sector company Sharmas husband was employed in. The wives didnt give up. They sought the salary information from the I-T department, again under the RTI. But hopes dashed when the department, too, refused to oblige. There is a prohibitory clause under Section 138A of the Income Tax Act, under which no information on the returns filed can be disclosed to anyone, Chhattisgarhs Chief Income Tax Commissioner Jamil Ahmed said. The department can provide such information only to the courts on demand. He said usually disillusioned wives, whose marriages are on the rocks, and seeking divorce or compensation are filing such RTI applications. Chhattisgarh Citizens Initiatives Convener Prateek Pandey, who heard the womens grievances, said: Weve decided to launch a campaign to declare corporate houses and private companies as public authorities that are either financed by the government or get benefits and subsidies under governments policies. The RTI applicants are disappointed. We expected cooperation from the I-T department, a woman said, on condition of anonymity. (Hindustan Times 23/3/2010 Court: information on cash-at-judge's-door' case confidential (1) New Delhi: In the midst of a raging controversy over closure of the cash-at-judge's-door case, the Supreme Court says the information is confidential. The Court's reply came on an RTI petition seeking details whether the Chief Justice of India was approached by the CBI wanting permission to prosecute Justice Nirmal Yadav of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the case. I write to inform you that the information sought by you... is confidential and is exempted from disclosure under the Section 8 (1) (e) and (j) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, [and] you have no right to access the said information. Further as the information is not held by or under the control of the CPIO, Supreme Court India, your request cannot be acceded to... Raj Pal Arora, Central Public Information Officer of the Supreme Court said in his reply. Earlier, the Court's Secretary General M.P. Bhadran said that the CBI did not approach the Chief Justice of India in the case. Justice Yadav's name figured in the alleged scam after the recovery of a mysterious bag containing Rs. 15 lakh at the door of another Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Nirmaljit Kaur, which was said to have been delivered there due to confusion over names. Justice Kaur reported the matter to the police. Later, the probe was given to the CBI on the orders of administrator of Chandigarh. The CJI had also appointed a three-judge committee to look into the matter. The then Attorney General, Milon Banerji, reportedly advised the Law Ministry that there was not enough material to proceed further in the matter. A CBI court observed that the probe agency filed the closure report after it failed to get sanction from the Chief Justice of India to launch prosecution against her. Meanwhile, Justice Yadav was transferred to Uttarakhand High Court after the decision of collegium. Applicant

Abhishek Shukla had sought a reply from the Supreme Court whether the CJI was approached by the CBI seeking permission to prosecute Justice Nirmal Yadav. PTI (The Hindu 24/3/2010)

More than three lakh cases pending in Bombay HC, RTI reveals (1) Thane, April 02, 2010: Over three lakh cases are pending in the Bombay High Court, according to an information revealed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The details, dated till December 31, 2009 were given after local social worker Omprakash Sharma sought information in this regard. According to the RTI reply statement, there were as many as 3,38,183 cases were pending in the Bombay High Court and the sanctioned number judges in the court is 75 while the working strength presently is 63. Also, the figures of the division bench vary as per the assignment of judicial work. During the present assignment there are ten division benches at Bombay, three at Nagpur, three at Aurangabad and one at Goa, it said. Normally, the assignment is changed five times in a year and matters are being placed in due sequence before the respective benches, it stated. (Hindustan Times 2/4/10) RTI appeals choke study cell (1) Agartala, April 4: The successful implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, might have come as a boon for Indian democracy, but it is fast becoming a menace for the department of school education in Tripura. During the past week, the department has released altogether 4,712 offers of appointment for graduate school teachers out of 4,856 targeted. The remaining 144 offers are being kept in abeyance because of lack of candidates for the reserved categories of physically handicapped and exservicemen. The job bonanza, however, has sparked statewide resentment because in most of the cases the beneficiaries have turned out to be CPM cadres or relatives and family members of party leaders. But those deprived have now turned the heat on the school education department by flooding it with letters under the RTI Act, 2005, seeking a variety of information on job offers, including details of beneficiaries. Till yesterday we received 206 such letters, said K.D. Das, deputy director of the department officiating as state public information officer. He said more letters were anticipated next week. The woes of the department were compounded by intervention in the form of a suo moto action by the chief information commissioner, B.K. Chakraborty, asking the director of school education to take five-point measures for smooth receipt of applications and dissemination of information. According to copies of the commissioners directive circulated this morning, the director of school education has been asked to designate four more officers to function as state public information officers for the four districts of the state and to provide them with adequate staff. The director has been asked to designate one more first appellate authority in the department for speedy disposal of appeals by applicants for information. The information commissioner has also asked the director of school education, Hiralal Chakraborty, to display the names, designation and contact details of such information officers and appellate authorities in front of the school education department office. He was asked to circulate the same widely through the media. Although the information commissioners letter has come as a big disappointment for the harried school education department, officials refused to comment on the issue. Principal secretary Banamali Sinha, in charge of the school education department, however, said the directives needed to be followed. I am not aware of the exact number of applications received so far but the officers of the department told me yesterday that a large number of applications seeking information had already been filed, the officers will act upon the directive issued by the CIC, he said. Reacting to queries over his directives, B.K. Chakraborty said his action was not suo moto but a duty. According to Section 19 (8) of the RTI Act 2005, I am quite within my power and jurisdiction to issue such directives and under Section 19 (7) the directives are binding on the government. It had come to my notice that large number of applications were being filed for information with the school education department and I decided to issue the directives in public interest in keeping with the letter and spirit of the RTI Act, Chakraborty said. (Telegraph 5/4/10) New Bill in next session to bring CAG under RTI (1) NEW DELHI: A new Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Bill, likely to be introduced in the next session of Parliament, will bring the institution of CAG under the ambit of the Right to Information Act. Talking to the media on the sidelines of the 25th Conference of Accountants General here on Monday, CAG of India Vinod Rai said the new Bill would seek to replace the CAG Act, 1971, and empower the institution to audit accounts of the panchayati raj institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and public-private partnership (PPP) entities. We want to prepare a new Act which has new models of

administration and new delivery channels to bring them into the legal mandate. The new Bill is being vetted by the Law Ministry and will go to the Cabinet for approval, he said, pointing out that it is unlikely to be taken up in the current session. Mr. Rai said the CAG's role has expanded from a mere auditor of financial transactions to that of a promoter of the government's performance and a powerful trustee of public good. He termed the lack of adequate and timely action by the Executive on audit findings and the difficulties in enforcing free and unfettered access to records major challenges that needed to be met in the 21st century. (The Hindu 6/4/10) RTI applicant surprised by High Court official's response (1) MADURAI: An applicant under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, who wanted to know the status of a case originally filed before the principal seat of the Madras High Court in Chennai in 2001 and subsequently transferred to its Madurai Bench in 2004, has taken by surprise by the response asking her to appear in person for verification of her identity, residential address and signature. M. Shanthi of Karur had filed an RTI application on February 25 seeking details of a civil miscellaneous appeal filed by an insurance company in 2001 against a judgment passed by a lower court earlier. Stating that the case was not listed for hearing for a long time, she sought to know whether it was still pending or had been disposed of. N. Vijayakumar, Deputy Registrar (Administration) of the Bench and also Assistant Public Information Officer, replied to the application on March 3. Instead of giving a direct answer to the question, he asked the woman applicant to approach her advocate for obtaining the required information. Not satisfied with the reply, Ms. Shanthi filed an appeal, under the RTI Act, before the Registrar (Administration) of the High Court Bench on March 13, 2010. Subsequently, she received another letter from R. Susheela Devi, Deputy Registrar (RTI) dated March 31 asking her to come to the Bench during office hours at the earliest for verification of her residential address and signature. The issue gains significance in view of the fact that there is no provision in the RTI Act which entitles a public information officer to ask an applicant to prove his/her identity. Section 6(2) of the Act categorically states a person seeking information need not give any personal details except those that were required for contacting him. (The Hindu 8/4/10) Helpline to clear RTI doubts, courtesy activists (1) LUCKNOW: Here comes help for those willing to tread the RTI line, but do not know how to go about it. The full-fledged RTI helpline and helpmail which gets rolling from Saturday is more than a promise to increase awareness on the Act. People can call up at 8081898081 and seek answers to their queries on RTI. It could be anything from filing the application to finding answers to the doubts about the use of the Act and many more similar things regarding the right to information (RTI) Act. There is still very little awareness on the Act though it has been there for the past four years in Uttar Pradesh. Many may not know that if not addressed to the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the department, RTI application will not fetch any response. Which is why the group of RTI activists active in the city have come together to give shape to the phone and e-mail helpline. "We want to help people to use the Act in the right manner", said Urvashi Sharma, an RTI activist. The helpline will not be a toll-free number as of now. It will be functional between 8 am to 10 pm. Besides, it will only answer to the queries made in either Hindi or English. People can also mail at (aishwaryaj2010@gmail.com) to get their doubts cleared on the Act. The activists will personally answer the queries on a day-to-day basis. Creating awareness on the RTI Act has always been a prime concern and focus. The UP State Information Commission has also taken up several initiatives to simplify the Act for people. The concise version of the Act, a booklet popularly called 'gutka', has been introduced by the commission to explain the nitty-gritties of the Act. It explains how simple it is to file an RTI application. The booklet has been published in Hindi. More so because the entire Act is available in English and its translation in Hindi is more than needed for UP where maximum applicants are Hindi-speaking folks. Anyone can obtain the booklet from the office of the PIO of the commission or that of any of the Information Commissioners (ICs). The booklet is available free of cost. The commission had published quite a few of such booklets in the past like 'prashnotri' which explained the procedures of disposal of an application etc. (Times of India 10/4/10) Exempt judiciary from RTI, CJI had written to PM (1) NEW DELHI: Seeking exemption from disclosure of information related to appointment or removal of judges, correspondence between PM, President, Chief Justice of India and other sensitive issues, CJI K G Balakrishnan in his letter to PM Manmohan Singh had urged that the Right to Information Act should

be amended to ensure independent functioning of the judiciary. The letter was written by the CJI in September 2009. The letter has been made public by the PMO in response to a plea by RTI activist S C Agrawal. The communique, which had drawn controversy with activists blaming the judiciary for shirking responsibility, refers to the failure of exempting the office of the CJI under the Act as an omission by lawmakers. The CJI, in his communication said, It is observed that while specifying the exemptions in section 8 of the Act, highly sensitive nature of the working of the office of the Chief Justice of India has not been taken note of. Quite frequently, information of highly confidential and sensitive nature of matters handled by the Chief Justice of India is being sought to be disclosed under the provisions of the Act by applicant-citizens but such information has to be refused as disclosure in those cases would prejudicially affect the independence of the judiciary.(Times of India 13/4/10) Maharashtra tops in RTI queries, replies (1) Mumbai: A report by the Maharashtra state information commission says that the state has been foremost in responding to the Right to Information Act (RTI) queries in the last four years. The number of RTI applications filed in the state was also the highest in the country. The report, made public on Friday, stated that 90% of the RTI applications were cleared in 2009 either a reply was given to the applications, or they were disposed of saying that the specific information cannot be revealed. Out of these applications, most were related to the urban development department, followed by the revenue department. The report stated that fine of Rs26,57,691 was imposed on 347 government officials for not responding to the RTI applications within the deadline. The urban development department had 1,35,652 RTI applications in 2009. Answers were given to 1,20,832 applications, and 855 were rejected. The department has 13,965 applications pending. RTI commissioner Suresh Joshi said in the report, The Union government received an average of 3,50,000 RTI applications last year, while the Maharashtra government received 4,40,728 RTI applications in the same period. Joshi, however, has regretted that certain sections of the society, especially people below the poverty level, women, SC, ST and minorities have still not made good use of the RTI Act.(DNA 17/4/10) RTI activists up in arms agaainst state govt in Orissa (1) RTI activists in Orissa are up in arms against the state government appointing yet another babu as a commissioner in the State Information Commission. With a panel comprising chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh and industry minister Raghunath Mohanty appointing Pramod Kumar Mohanty, now special secretary in CM's office, as the next information commissioner, activists are now asking the government to clarify how it zeroes in on persons while making such appointments. Despite having a forgettable tenure in CM's office, the faceless bureaucrat would now get to work as information commissioner in the State Information Commission for next 5 years with a monthly remuneration of Rs 1.1 lakh with a status equalling that of chief secretary, said RTI activist Pradip Pradhan. Mohanty, who would assume charge soon after he retired from government service on April 30, would serve as commissioner for next 5 years. The Orissa Information Commission can have 10 commissioners and 1 chief information commissioner. With the appointment of Mohanty, there would still be vacancy of 8 commissioner posts. Pradhan said the State Information Commission with a dismal record in delivering justice to the RTI petitioners across the State needs an effective and dynamic commissioner. With 5000 second appeals and complaint cases piled up before the 2-member commission headed by chief information commissioner Dhirendra Nath Padhi, activists like Pradhan alleged that the body is becoming a lumbering behemoth. "We have seen that the former IAS officers are no good in implementing the RTI Act. The current commissioners show no urgency as they can dispose of only 30-35 cases a month where as central information commissioners like Shailesh Gandhi disposes 265 cases in the same period. Any case takes about 10-12 hearing forcing petitioners to run to Bhubaneswar. The commissioners have largely been irrelevant. If the commission continue to dispose at this rate, then they would take another 20 years to finish all the cases, alleged Pradhan. (Indian Express 17/4/10) Supreme Court issues notice on its plea against bringing CJI in RTI ambit (1) New Delhi: The Supreme Court today sought a response from an RTI activist on an appeal filed by it challenging a Delhi High Court verdict holding that the office of the chief justice of India came within the ambit of the transparency law and was liable to reveal information under it. A bench of justices BS Reddy and SS Nijjar granted four weeks time to the activist, SC Agrawal, on whose plea the high court had

delivered the major judgement on January 12, this year, to file his response. The petition, which has been filed by the apex court registry, raised the point that information held by the CJI is sensitive in nature and its revelation would hamper the judiciary's independence. The registry, however, did not seek immediate stay on the high court ruling. In its landmark verdict, the Delhi High Court had held that the office of the chief justice of India came under the purview of the RTI Act and rejected a Supreme Court appeal, saying judicial independence is not a judge's personal privilege but a responsibility cast upon him. The verdict was seen as a setback to chief justice of India KG Balakrishnan who has consistently been maintaining that his office does not come under the transparency law and, hence, it cannot part with information like disclosure of judges' assets under it. Holding that the CJI is a public authority under the Act, a full bench of the high court headed by then chief justice AP Shah had said judges of the superior courts should make public their assets as they are not "less accountable" than the judicial officers of lower courts who are bound by service rules to declare assets. The bench dismissed the plea of the Supreme Court which had vehemently opposed bringing the CJI's office within the purview of the Act on the ground that it would encroach into its judicial independence. "Judicial independence is not the personal privilege or prerogative of the individual judge," the bench had said in its ruling. Double click an English word for Macmillan Dictionary definitio (DNA 19/4/10) NGOs getting govt aid in RTI ambit: HC (1) NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court has held that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which get government funds should come under the purview of RTI Act making it mandatory for them to disclose information pertaining to their functioning. "The term public authority has been given a broad meaning not only to include bodies which are owned, controlled or substantially financed directly or indirectly by the government but even NGOs, which are financed directly or indirectly by the government," justice Sanjeev Khanna said while declaring the stock exchanges as public authorities in a recent order. The court said it is not necessary that the government should have pervasive and deep control over an organization to bring it under the purview of the Transparency Act. "Even private organizations, which are enjoying benefit of substantial funding directly or indirectly from the governments, fall within the definition of public authorities under the Act," the court said. The court made these observations while passing an order on a petition filed by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) challenging a Central Information Commission order which had directed it to disclose information under the Act. The court dismissed the NSE plea that it cannot be forced to reveal information to public under RTI.(Times of India 21/4/10) RTI activist killed in group clash in Beed (1) AURANGABAD: An RTI activist who had exposed irregularities in a village school in Beed was killed following a clash between two groups on Sunday. The rival group, which inflicted serious injuries on the activist, was led by the son of the president of the educational society that runs the school, Sainath Vidyalaya, the police said. The activist, Vitthal Gite (39), was a farmer and a flour-mill owner in the village, Waghbet. He, along with another activist, Brijmohan Mishra, had sought information under the RTI Act and exposed irregularities in the functioning of a few other schools in the village as well. The alleged irregularities in Sainath Vidyalaya were published in a local newspaper, which led to the clash between the two groups in which Gite was killed, Mishra told TOI on Wednesday. The police, however, said old enmity between the two groups had triggered the clash. We cannot compare this case with the murder of RTI activist Satish Shetty of Talegaon. However, information sought by Gite under the RTI Act was one of the reasons behind the group clash, police inspector Vidyanand Kale of the Parli-Vaijnath police station told TOI. Kale said a majority of the villagers were related and went by the name Gite. Sundays clash was between two groups of the Gite family. Gite sustained serious injuries in the clash and was taken to a private hospital in Parli. He was later shifted to a hospital in Latur, where he died on Tuesday morning. We have booked around 35 people from both groups and have arrested eight people following complaints lodged by both sides. A murder charge will be slapped on the group led by Amarnath Gite, he added. (Times of India 22/4/10)