New Delhi: Even as Law Minister Kapil Sibal proposed a new law to fight fixing in sports, his Cabinet colleagues Rajiv Shukla and Ajay Maken spoke in two different voices over the exemption of BCCI from the Right to Information Act. Union Minister Ajay Maken, who earlier held the sports portfolio, wants the BCCI brought under the Right to Information Act.
He tweeted, "BCCI should agree to come under RTI. Any organisation entrusted with job of selecting a National Team can not call itself a Private Body!"
But Maken's call was rejected by his Cabinet colleague and IPL chief Rajiv Shukla. "A private body cannot be brought under RTI. Bringing BCCI under RTI will not check spot-fixing," Shukla said.
Maken, who holds Housing portfolio at present, said the Centre has already taken a stand before Central Information Commission (CIC) that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should be under the ambit of the Information law. During his stint in the Sports Ministry, Maken had tried to bring transparency in sports bodies through the Sports Bill....
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07:56 AM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: Just two days after the removal of Ashwani Kumar as Law Minister over the coal scam, there seems to be more trouble for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. A Right to Information application shows that it was the Prime Minister's Office that put pressure on the Environment Ministry to ease environmental rules to allow expansion in coal mining projects. In a recent landmark judgement, the Supreme Court has upheld...
09:33 AM, May 13, 2013
Tissa: When a right to information (RTI) activist in Himachal Pradesh exposed misuse of public funds some years back, he did not expect that his fight for truth would expose him and his family to threats and social boycott. Manjur Mohammed, 26, who hails from remote Naila village in the Muslim-dominated Kalhel panchayat of Tissa block of Chamba district, has been facing the wrath of his fellow villagers. "I accessed...
05:57 AM, May 06, 2013
Chennai: The video conferencing session of Perarivalan, a death row convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, with the Chief Information Commissioner planned on Monday over his RTI query has been postponed, a top police official said. "The session has been postponed. There is no information on when would be the next session," ADGP (Prisons) JK Tripathy told PTI. The hearing was to take place today on Perarivalan's Right to...
07:04 PM, Apr 15, 2013
In 'Accidental India: A History of the Nation's Passage through Crisis and Change', noted journalist-analyst, Shankkar Aiyar, examines India's ascent through the paradigm of seven game changers: the economic liberalization of 1991, the Green Revolution of the sixties, the nationalization of banks in 1969, Operation Flood in the seventies, the mid-day meal scheme of 1982, the software revolution of the nineties, and the passing of the Right to Information Act...
03:27 PM, Apr 09, 2013
An RTI query accessed by CNN-IBN shows the Jammu and Kashmir Forest and Environment Minister Mian Altaf Ahmad is flouting rules. His son was granted permission to mine for stone in a mountain zone and protected forest land in clear violation of a Supreme Court order. ...
09:44 AM, Apr 02, 2013
A Right to Information query that CNN-IBN has accessed shows that the son of a senior Jammu and Kashmir minister was given permission to blast into forest land in violation of a Supreme Court order. It is a blatant misuse of power and was to benefit Mian Mehr Ali, son of the state's Forest and Environment Minister Mian Altaf Ahmad. The minister has, however, denied the allegations. ...
03:33 PM, Apr 01, 2013
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has approached the Delhi High Court claiming protection from disclosure of information held by it on allegations of corruption under the Right to Information Act. The CBI's move to approach the Delhi High Court came on a Central Information Commission decision allowing RTI plea of activist CJ Karira who had sought information related to status of sanction for prosecution against public servants facing allegations of...
03:53 PM, Feb 18, 2013
Shailaja Chandra talks about how the Right to Information Act, which is a simple law and has helped countless people, has become embroiled in controversy. ...
05:04 PM, Jan 22, 2013
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the government to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Joint Commissioner Crime Pranab Mohanty to investigate into recent murder of Right to Information Activist (RTI) activist Lingaraju. Hearing the suo motu PIL on the matter, a division bench headed by Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen asked the government to submit its final report on the matter by February 10. ...
07:34 PM, Dec 12, 2012
Ten main political parties of the country had a whopping Rs 2,490 crore of tax-exempted income in the last five years, according to information from the Income Tax department through an RTI plea. Of this the ruling Congress and the main Opposition party BJP have cornered more than 80 per cent. ...
06:03 PM, Dec 02, 2012
New Delhi: The proposal to withdraw the amendments proposed to the Right to Information Act in 2006 has been accepted in the Cabinet meeting on Thursday. With the proposed amendments dropped, the Right to Information Act will not be diluted much to the delight of social activists. The move came after Congress President Sonia Gandhi opposed the amendments. The amendment suggested was that the government exempts file notings from disclosure...
12:13 PM, Nov 01, 2012
New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi has forced the Centre to drop its plan to dilute the Right To Information Act and the announcement is likely to be made in Thursday's Cabinet meeting. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet his new cabinet on Thursday for the first time since Sunday's reshuffle. The government plans to drop a series of amendments that were aimed at diluting and weakening the RTI Act....
07:29 AM, Nov 01, 2012
New Delhi: The government will not go for amendments proposed to the Right to Information Act as mooted in July 2006, according to sources. The amendment suggested was that the government exempts file notings from disclosure except for development and social issues. The amendment also suggested that the exam selection process be exempted from the RTI ambit. The amendments were seen as dilution of the RTI Act and Congress President...
04:02 PM, Oct 31, 2012
Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's query on Congress President Sonia Gandhi's travel expenses seems to be getting back at him. While Modi continues to target Sonia, it has now emerged that the Gujarat Chief Minister himself may be hiding information. Activists Trupti Shah and Bharat Sinh Jhala claim Modi is withholding information on expenses incurred on his women empowerment sammelans over the past five years, as well as on...
10:32 AM, Oct 03, 2012
New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday kept up the attack on Congress President Sonia Gandhi saying if the newspaper reports mentioning the details of the expenditure incurred on her foreign trips and treatment abroad were wrong, why did the ruling party shy away from taking legal action. "I would want to tell the Congress that this news was in newspapers many months back. Why did the government...
01:16 PM, Oct 02, 2012
New Delhi: Due to 100 per cent tax exemption on their incomes, six major political parties saved Rs 510.02 crore between 2006-09, activists said on Thursday, and demanded these be declared as "public authority" and brought under the RTI Act. Activists said as political parties in the country are indirectly funded by tax payers' money, they should be brought under the Right to Information Act (RTI). The Congress party got...
12:37 AM, Sep 28, 2012
New Delhi: Due to 100 per cent tax exemption on their incomes, six major political parties saved Rs 510.02 crore between 2006-09, activists said on Thursday, and demanded these be declared as "public authority" and brought under the RTI Act. Activists said as political parties in the country are indirectly funded by tax payers' money, they should be brought under the Right to Information Act (RTI). The Congress party got...
11:27 PM, Sep 27, 2012
Srinagar: Misuse of official resource is nothing new in Jammu and Kashmir. A Right to Information query has revealed that the Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand of the state has been using 25 official cars instead of two authorised. The RTI document mentions that various government departments under Chand's jurisdiction have been faithfully contributing vehicles to him and his office even though they have been experiencing a crunch. As per...
10:38 AM, Sep 25, 2012
Guwahati: There is no end to the fight for survival due to the floods in Assam where over 75 people have died so far. An RTI query has now revealed that Rs 11,000 crore has been allocated for flood relief since 2005 and the Assam Human Rights Commission will now investigate the money misuse. Everybody loves a good flood. That cliche has become a truism, yet again, with crores being...
08:48 AM, Jul 23, 2012
