fiogf49gjkf0d
Public Authority: Aurangabad Information Commissioner has ruled that Global Towers, a franchisee of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) for Aurangabad city, came within the purview of the Right to Information Act and was bound to provide information to power consumers.
RTI applicant, Hemant kapadia had made an application to Global Towers (GT) which was rejected by it on the ground that it was a private company and the RTI Act did not apply to it. MSEDCL representatives submitted before the Commission that all applications received from consumers under the RTI Act had been forwarded to Global Towers, but it did not respond and so no information could be given to Kapadia.
All along, Global Towers had taken the view that it would provide information to MSEDCL and that there was nothing wrong in denying information to consumers. In some cases, the firm did provide information, but it was submitted to. MSEDCL and not the consumers.
Information Commission ruled that GT had received substantial assistance form MSEDCL and owing to that assistance view the GT was able to perform and provide service. Accordingly, in the view of the Information Commissioner, GT comes under the purview of the RTI Act and is a Public Authority.
Panchayat head:
Bhadresh Vamja, a 21 year-old law student, who tenaciously used Right to Information (RTI) to fight corruption, has been elected as the sarpanch of Saldi village. He is also one of the youngest sarpanchs in the state of Gujarat.
Vamja is the second RTI activist to be elected to village panchayat for empowering people through RTI. Last year, blind activist Ratna Ala was elected as deputy sarpanch of Rangpar village in Surendranagar.
