Maharashtra government makes another attempt to cripple RTI Act; move draws flak
The Maharashtra government is proposing a series of RTI rules, which, if implemented, would sound the death knell of the Act. Earlier, during the tenure of the previous government, some RTI rules were made.
What are the controversial proposals?
One is that an applicant would not be given details that “involve fresh collection of non-available data” or “compilation of existing data”. The other is not to give information on queries that seek “justification”.
How will the proposals kill the Act?
Already, there are complaints that many public information officers (PIOs) do not part with information largely because they do not even keep the records properly with them. The proposals also take away the onus of giving reasons for not providing information from the PIOs. The government is also looking to set a limit on the information it can provide online.
PMO discloses salary of its staff; IAS officer Bhaskar Khulbe highest paid
The monthly salary of all officers working in the prime minister’s office (PMO) has been made public as part of suo motu disclosure under the Right to Information (RTI ) Act with senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Bhaskar Khulbe the highest paid at Rs.2.01 lakh.
Khulbe, who is secretary to the prime minister, gets a monthly remuneration of Rs.2.01 lakh, according to details of the salary as on 1 June 2016 put on the PMO website.
Update details of officers handling RTI matters: Govt to depts
All central government departments have been asked to ensure that updated details of officers responsible for handling RTI applications are available in the public domain.
One of the items to be disclosed proactively by the public authorities (or government departments) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act pertains to the names, designations and other particulars of the Central Public Information Officers (CPIO) and its updation on a yearly basis.
Army canteens most profitable retail chain in India, ahead of Future & Reliance Retail
Which is the most profitable Retail chain in India? Answer: The defence canteen stores. Its earnings exceeded those of all other chains, including Future Retail and Reliance Retail. The Canteen Stores Department (CSD), which, incidentally, is a not-for-profit organisation, earned Rs 236 crore during FY14-15, according to a Right to Information query. Comparatively, Avenue Supermart, which runs D’Mart stores, made a profit of Rs 211crore.
118 sexual harassment cases filed in BMC in 4 years, reveals RTI
In the last four years (2013-16) the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials have registered 118 cases of sexual harassment in its offices, reveals a right to information (RTI ) response.
In a reply to the RTI filed by activist Anil Galgali requesting number of sexual harassment complaints filed in the civic administration and action taken, the civic body replied saying 21 sexual harassments cases were registered by its women employees till June this year.
According to this information, from 2013 to 2016, the average number of complaints registered with committee which works under Women Sexual Harassment Prevention chief and ‘Savitribai Phule Women Resource Centre each year should be 29. While in 2013 and 2014, 32 and 34 complaints were lodged respectively, there was marginal decline in 2015 as 31 cases were filed.
