Regarding today’s Supreme Court landmark ruling and its implication for the Vigilance and Information Commissions – 3 Mar. 2011

March 3rd, 2011 12:00 AM | by editor | Uncategorized.  
Regarding today’s Supreme Court landmark ruling and its implication for the Vigilance and Information Commissions – 3 Mar. 2011
The Supreme Court has just released a landmark judgement (WP(C) No. 355 of 2010, Centre for PIL vs. Union of India) in the dispute over the selection of P.J. Thomas (ex-IAS) as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner of India. (The ruling is available from the SC website, and is also available ...

Jammu and Kashmir gets its first CIC – PTI – 27 Jan. 2011

January 27th, 2011 12:00 AM | by editor | News.  
Jammu and Kashmir gets its first CIC – PTI – 27 Jan. 2011
Jammu, Jan 27 (PTI) Former top Income Tax officer G RSofi was today appointed as the first Chief InformationCommissioner of Jammu and Kashmir, six years after the stateenacted the landmark RTI. The name of Sofi was decided after a meeting of ChiefMinister Omar Abdullah, leader of Opposition Mehbooba Muftiand Deputy Chief ...

Selection Committee to meet on 27 Jan.: IANS – 12 Jan. 2011

January 12th, 2011 12:00 AM | by editor | News.  
Selection Committee to meet on 27 Jan.: IANS – 12 Jan. 2011
Jammu, Jan 12 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir was the first to enact the Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2004. But seven years down the line and despite Rs.8.3 million being spent on the required infrastructure in the past year, the State Information Commission is yet to be set up. RTI ...

SIC Sucks Rs 83 Lakh For 14 Months of Idleness – Kashmir Observer – 23 Dec. 2010

December 23rd, 2010 12:00 AM | by editor | News.  
SIC Sucks Rs 83 Lakh For 14 Months of Idleness – Kashmir Observer – 23 Dec. 2010
Srinagar, Dec 23, KONS: For all practical purposes a stillborn initiative till now, the headless State Information Commission (SIC) has nevertheless guzzled over Rs 80 lakh of the taxpayers’ money in the past 14 months for maintaining idle offices and supporting staff. The information was, ironically, dug out by RTI activist ...

Idle J&K Information Commission spends Rs 83 lakh on maintenance – Iftikhar Gilani – Tehelka – 23 Dec. 2010

December 23rd, 2010 12:00 AM | by editor | News.  
Idle J&K Information Commission spends Rs 83 lakh on maintenance – Iftikhar Gilani – Tehelka – 23 Dec. 2010
The Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) government has spent nearly Rs 83 lakh on the maintenance of the office of the State Information Commission (SIC) from the time it was constituted in October 2009, even without actually putting it in place. The state government led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is yet ...

J&K RTI Movement delegation meets Vohra, discusses concerns about selection of information commissioners – Greater Kashmir – 9 Dec. 2010

December 9th, 2010 12:00 AM | by editor | News.  
J&K RTI Movement delegation meets Vohra, discusses concerns about selection of information commissioners – Greater Kashmir – 9 Dec. 2010
J&K RTI Movement delegation meets Vohra, discusses concerns about selection of information commissioners Jammu, Dec 8: A delegation of RTI activists from J&K RTI Movement (JKRTIM) met the governor N N Vohra on Wednesday to discuss the selection of State Information Commissioners and other RTI related matters such as the recent ...

RTI activists present their demands to Governor – Kashmir Times – 8 Dec. 2010

December 9th, 2010 12:00 AM | by editor | News.  
RTI activists present their demands to Governor – Kashmir Times – 8 Dec. 2010
JAMMU, Dec 8 : A joint delegation of the JKRTI Movement and Sangarsh RTI Movement met the Governor,  N. N.Vohra, at Raj Bhavan here today and submitted a Memorandum of their demands. The demands projected to the Governor by the RTI activists’ deputation, included, interalia, the appointment of the Chief Information ...

RTI activists call on Vohra – State Observer – 8 Dec. 2010

December 9th, 2010 12:00 AM | by editor | News.  
RTI activists call on Vohra – State Observer – 8 Dec. 2010
JAMMU: A joint delegation of the JKRTI Movement and Sangarsh RTI Movement met the Governor, Mr. N. N. Vohra, at Raj Bhavan here today and submitted a Memorandum of their demands. The demands projected to the Governor by the RTI activists’ deputation, included, interalia, the appointment of the Chief Information Commissioner ...

RTI activists present their demands to Governor – Kashmir Images – 8 Dec. 2010

December 8th, 2010 12:00 AM | by editor | News.  
RTI activists present their demands to Governor – Kashmir Images – 8 Dec. 2010
Jammu Dec 8: A joint delegation of the JKRTI Movement and Sangarsh RTI Movement met the Governor, N. N. Vohra, at Raj Bhavan here today and submitted a Memorandum of their demands. The demands projected to the Governor by the RTI activists’ deputation, included, interalia, the appointment of the Chief Information ...

RTI activists, freedom fighters call on Governor – Daily Excelsior – 8 Dec. 2010

December 8th, 2010 12:00 AM | by editor | News.  
RTI activists, freedom fighters call on Governor – Daily Excelsior – 8 Dec. 2010
JAMMU, Dec 8: A joint delegation of the JKRTI Movement and Sangarsh RTI Movement met the Governor, N. N. Vohra, at Raj Bhawan here today and submitted a memorandum of their demands. The demands projected to the Governor by the RTI activists’ deputation, included, the appointment of the Chief Information Commissioner ...

Letter to Hon’ble CM: re: Upcoming Selection Committee meeting – 25 Oct. 2010 – JKRTIM

October 26th, 2010 12:00 AM | by editor | News.  
Letter to Hon’ble CM: re: Upcoming Selection Committee meeting – 25 Oct. 2010 – JKRTIM
Dear Respected Sir: With respect to the Information Department’s news bulletin that there will be a Selection Committee meeting on Wednesday 27th Oct: First, it is excellent that the Government is not wasting any more time on this matter. Second, we have learned that the Respected LOP received the invitation letter while en route to the ...

Commentary on the current state of the Central RTI across India – N. Bhaskara Rao – The Hindu – 24 Sept. 2010

October 25th, 2010 12:00 AM | by editor | Uncategorized.  
Commentary on the current state of the Central RTI across India – N. Bhaskara Rao – The Hindu – 24 Sept. 2010
Five years after the enactment of the Right to Information Act, awareness of the law, its provisions and potential appears to be very low. Marking the completion of five years, in September 2010, of the enactment of the Right to Information Act, the Central Information Commission (CIC) held the fifth annual ...

“Govt to go ahead with CIC, ICs appointment” – Sanjeev Pargal – Excelsior – 8 Oct. 2010

October 8th, 2010 12:00 AM | by editor | Uncategorized.  
“Govt to go ahead with CIC, ICs appointment” – Sanjeev Pargal – Excelsior – 8 Oct. 2010
JAMMU, Oct 8: The State Government has decided to go ahead with the selection of Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and Information Commissioners (ICs) if Leader of Opposition Mehbooba Mufti didn’t attend one more meeting for making the appointments, pending for past quite some time, which is likely to be convened ...

RTI activist shot dead in Gujarat – IANS/Hindustan Times – 21 July 2010

July 21st, 2010 12:00 AM | by editor | News.  
RTI activist shot dead in Gujarat – IANS/Hindustan Times – 21 July 2010
Leading Right to Information (RTI) activist Amit Jethwa was shot dead opposite the high court building in Ahmedabad Tuesday night, police said. Jethwa had just come out after meeting his lawyer and was getting into his vehicle parked near the office of the state bar council, opposite the Gujarat High Court, ...

CIC decides to approach SC as members threaten to stop work

May 27th, 2010 12:00 AM | by editor | News.  
CIC decides to approach SC as members threaten to stop work
New Delhi, Delhi, May 26, 2010 — India’s FoI watchdog the Central Information Commission “CIC” has decided to approach the Indian Supreme Court next week against a recent order of the Delhi High Court which has caused at least 3 of its members to inform the Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat ...

Info Commission goes on headless: Incapacitated RTI Act – Muddasir Ali – Greater Kashmir – 20 Apr. 2010

April 20th, 2010 10:51 AM | by editor | News.  
Info Commission goes on headless: Incapacitated RTI Act – Muddasir Ali – Greater Kashmir – 20 Apr. 2010
The following article on Page 1 of tomorrow’s Greater Kashmir gets at the heart of most of the problems with RTI implementation in J&K: The SIC has been headless for over one year! Two technical corrections to an otherwise informative article: There are several deadlines for RTI implementation in the Act, but there ...

Know Your RTI: J&K SIC: Powerful, Promising and Unique: Part 7 of weekly Kashmir Times column – 9 Feb. 2010

February 10th, 2010 05:39 PM | by editor | News.  
Know Your RTI: J&K SIC: Powerful, Promising and Unique: Part 7 of weekly Kashmir Times column – 9 Feb. 2010
Text only: By Muzaffar Bhat The J&K State Information Commission is responsible for overseeing & safeguarding the implementation of the JKRTI Act of 2009.  In October, ex-J&K cadre IAS officer Mr. Wajahat Habibullah was selected by the SIC Selection Committee (comprised of the Chief Minister, the Law Minister, and the acting Leader of ...

Appoint information commissioners for Kashmir, Habibullah urges Omar – Mayank Aggarwal, IANS – 21 Jan. 2010

January 21st, 2010 03:51 PM | by editor | News.  
Appoint information commissioners for Kashmir, Habibullah urges Omar – Mayank Aggarwal, IANS – 21 Jan. 2010
The following article should be considered along with the following 3 points: 1. The Information Commission is to have 3 members: 1 Chief Information Commissioner and 2 “regular” Information Commissioners; 2. The CM had proposed last Spring that one regular Info. Commissioner would come from Jammu region, and the other from Kashmir ...