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The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday pleas seeking filling of vacancies in Central Information Commission (CIC) and State Information Commissions (SICs) amid rising pendency of cases before them. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi will hear pleas filed by activist Anjali Bhardwaj and others in which it had earlier directed the Centre to expeditiously fill up the vacancies in the CIC and SICs. On November 27, the top court deferred the matter after it was informed by Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj that the selection committee constituted under section 12(3) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 was scheduled to meet on October 28, 2025 but the meeting could not take place. The bench had asked Nataraj to speak to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and apprise them of the total vacancies, observing that "we have no reason to doubt that the Competent Authority will take the necessary initiative to fill the available ...
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to direct the Central Information Commission (CIC) to conduct virtual hearings underscoring "huge infrastructural investment". The bench's remarks came on a petition field by journalists who sought to attend the proceedings of the CIC through the physical and virtual modes. A division bench comprising Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Anish Dayal directed them to approach the CIC with regards to physical hearing, noting that there was already an order by the commission in that regard. On the point of virtual hearing, the bench told the petitioners to move the Supreme Court where the issue relating to such facility before the commission was pending. "It is not as easy as you people perhaps trying to portray. There are issues which has prevented many high courts from going online. Online hearings are permissible but online streaming is not permissible. There are issues which must be realised by the members of the general public. It is n
Advising the Delhi government to stop ex post facto renewal of licences od private hospitals, the CIC has said private entities providing essential public services have to be brought under RTI Act in a state-specific amendment of the transparency law. Information Commissioner Vinod Kumar Tiwari made these observations while hearing the case of an RTI applicant who was allegedly given "exorbitant bills" by a private hospital for the treatment of his wife in 2023. RTI applicant Sanjeev Kumar had approached Delhi government's Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) seeking details of licence issued to Artemis Hospital, where his wife underwent treatment, among other information in a 12-pointer application. Not getting satisfactory response, he approached the Central Information Commission with his case. "...Core contention of the appellant in the instant appeal was non-receipt of correct and accurate information from the PIO and also arbitrary practice adopted by the Artemis ..
The Central Information Commission (CIC) has expressed "severe displeasure" over the Election Commission (EC) not furnishing a reply to an RTI plea that had asked the poll panel about the action taken on a "representation" given to it by eminent citizens, raising questions on the credibility of EVMs and VVPAT machines during elections. Terming it a "gross violation" of the law, the CIC has also directed the EC to submit a written explanation. Former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer M G Devasahayam, who was one of the signatories to the representation on the credibility of electronic voting machines (EVMs), voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) and the vote-counting process, had filed an application with the poll panel under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, seeking details of the action taken on it. The representation was sent to the EC on May 2, 2022. Through the RTI application filed on November 22, 2022, Devasahayam wanted to know about the persons and public .
Over 22,000 second appeals and complaints were pending with the Central Information Commission as on December 5, 2022, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. The CIC is mandated to deal with second appeals and complaints filed by RTI applicants in case they are aggrieved with the responses provided to them by government departments. Of the total pendency of 22,442, 19,178 were second appeals and 3,264 complaints, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in reply to a written question. To a question on whether the government was aware of cases where personal information of some RTI applicants have been made public, the minister said the Centre has from time to time issued guidelines or office memorandums "bringing to notice of all ministries/departments of government of India that personal information of an RTI applicant should not be disclosed". Section 8(1) (j) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 provides that it is not obligatory for public informatio
The currency in circulation (CIC) declined by Rs 7,600 crore in the Diwali week, making it the first such happening in two decades, a report said on Thursday. This was made possible courtesy of a greater reliance on digital payments by people, the report by economists at SBI said, adding that the Indian economy is undergoing a structural transformation at present. They clarified that the Diwali week in 2009 had also witnessed a marginal Rs 950 crore decline in currency in circulation, but that was purely due to the economic slowdown amid the global financial crisis. "The innovations in technology have changed the Indian payment system. Over the years, the Indian cash lead economy now has changed to a smart-phone lead payment economy," they said. The economists also said that a lower currency in circulation also is akin to a cut in the cash reserve ratio for the banking system as it results in lower leakage of deposits and will have a positive impact on monetary transmission as ...