RTI activists produce fresh response to challenge cop action over Pandian security

Times of India: Bhubaneswar: Wednesday, 17 December 2025.
Three RTI campaigners, who were booked by city police in 2024 for allegedly circulating “fake and misleading” information about the security cover of ex-CM Naveen Patnaik’s aide and former BJD member V K Pandian, have now produced fresh information to challenge the police action against them.

“Police accused us of spreading lies even though the information we shared was obtained through RTI regarding Pandian’s security cover. On Nov 11, we again sought the same details from the commissionerate police. The reply we received matched the earlier one. This clearly proves we were falsely implicated, only because Pandian was highly influential,” said RTI campaigner Prakash Das.
According to the RTI response, Pandian was provided with 2 personal security officers, 1 havildar, 4 armed police reserve personnel as house guards, 1-4 escorts in a vehicle during road journeys, 4 women constables, and 1 section force. All of these were sanctioned by the previous BJD govt.
In April 2024, Saheed Nagar police registered a case against Das, Srikant Pakal and Pradip Pradhan, days after they released a letter at a press conference detailing Pandian’s security cover. Then police commissioner Sanjeeb Panda called the letter “forged” and denied that such information was ever provided by the commissionerate police. Subsequently, a case was filed against the trio.

Relief under RTI Act for woman who was deprived of land ownership

The Hindu: Chennai: Wednesday, 17 December 2025.
After a decade’s struggle to get her property back, the victim approached TNIC for relief, State Chief Information Commissioner Md. Shakeel Akhter directed Narayani to approach the District Registrar, Chengalpattu, with all relevant documents for registration of her land.

More than a decade after her agricultural land was erroneously recorded as temple property, abruptly depriving her of ownership, a woman turned to the Right to Information (RTI) Act to uncover the truth.
In 2012, S. Narayani of Chennai, was shocked to know her ancestral land measuring 75 cents at Tiruporur in Chengalpattu district had been shown in the encumbrance certificate as property belonging to the Arulmigu Kandaswamy Temple, Tiruporur.
Along with her son, S. Rajkumar, Ms. Narayani approached officials of the Revenue, Registration, and Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) departments seeking an explanation as to how the family’s private land was listed as temple property. However, their repeated representations evoked no response from the officials.
“We had all the land records such as parent documents, patta, chitta and other revenue certificates to establish our ownership. But the officials could not produce a single document to justify how our land was shown as government property. They refused to entertain our request to change the records based on facts,” Mr. Rajkumar said.
No response to RTI Act plea
With no relief forthcoming, Ms. Narayani filed an RTI Act application in 2022 with the District Registrar-cum-Public Information Officer (PIO), Chengalpattu, seeking details on how the ownership of her land had been altered. When the application drew no response, she moved an appeal before the Tamil Nadu Information Commission (TNIC) the following year.
When the matter came up before State Chief Information Commissioner Md. Shakeel Akhter, he summoned the PIOs of the three departments and directed them to explain how private patta lands in Survey Nos. 56/1, 56/3 and 56/5 had been converted into temple property, and to produce supporting documents.
Though the officials initially maintained the lands belonged to the temple, they failed to furnish any records to substantiate their claim.
Wrong entries acknowledged
After several adjournments spanning over two years, the Registration Department’s PIO submitted a report stating that mistakes and erroneous entries had been made in 2007. The officials responsible had since retired, the report said, and no action could be initiated against them.
The PIO further informed the Commission that the petitioner could approach the appropriate authorities for registration of the property, provided there was no objection from the Revenue Department regarding the genuineness of the patta or any pending litigation.
Passing orders after hearing both sides, Mr. Shakeel Akhter directed Ms. Narayani to approach the District Registrar, Chengalpattu, with all relevant documents for registration of her land, a move that would restore her ownership and rights over the property.

RK Goyal takes oath as CIC; watchdog at full strength after 9 years

 Business Standard: New Delhi: Tuesday, 16 December 2025.
The Central Information Commission has attained full strength after nine years following the appointment of a new chief and eight information commissioners, amid concerns over backlog and transparency

President Droupadi Murmu with newly sworn-in CIC
Raj Kumar Goyal (Photo: PTI)

After a gap of nine years, transparency watchdog, the Central Information Commission, has returned to full strength with the appointment of former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Raj Kumar Goyal as chief information commissioner (CIC) and eight other information commissioners, all of whom took the oath of office on Monday.
The post of CIC had fallen vacant after Heeralal Samariya completed his term on September 13. The Commission is headed by a CIC and can have up to 10 information commissioners. With the latest appointments, the body has reached full strength for the first time in more than nine years, transparency activists said.
Right to Information activists Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johari said the Centre appointed the CIC and eight information commissioners “after repeated directions of the Supreme Court to fill vacancies”. They said the Supreme Court, since December 2018, had in multiple orders directed the filling of all vacancies in view of the large backlog of appeals and complaints before the Commission. The watchdog will finally function at full strength after December 2016, they said. The backlog currently exceeds 31,000 appeals and complaints, and it takes more than a year for a matter to be heard by the Commission, according to the activists, who were petitioners in a related Supreme Court case.
The Supreme Court, in its 2019 judgment and subsequent orders, had also directed the government to ensure transparency in the appointment process for information commissioners under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. “We are constrained to note that important information such as the short-listing criteria adopted by the search committee and the list of applicants and short-listed candidates was not placed in the public domain,” Bhardwaj and Johari said in a statement.
A three-member panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week recommended the names of the Chief Information Commissioner and eight information commissioners for appointment. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Goyal as CIC at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Later, in the presence of two incumbent information commissioners, Anandi Ramalingam and Vinod Kumar Tiwari, Goyal administered the oath of office to the eight new appointees.
Goyal is a retired 1990-batch IAS officer of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre. He superannuated on August 31 as secretary in the Department of Justice under the Ministry of Law and Justice. He has also served as secretary (border management) in the Ministry of Home Affairs and held key positions at the Centre and in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The eight information commissioners include former Railway Board chair Jaya Verma Sinha; former Indian Police Service officer Swagat Das, who held senior roles in the Intelligence Bureau, the Home Ministry and the Cabinet Secretariat; Central Secretariat Service officer Sanjeev Kumar Jindal; former IAS officer Surendra Singh Meena; and former Indian Forest Service officer Khushwant Singh Sethi. Senior journalists P R Ramesh and Ashutosh Chaturvedi, and former Indian Legal Service officer Sudha Rani Relangi, have also been sworn in as information commissioners.
The names of the CIC and the eight information commissioners were cleared at a meeting of the Modi-led selection committee, which included Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi. The Congress leader flagged the lack of representation from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes among the shortlisted candidates.

How RTI activists keep the law alive : Shamsul Bari, Ruhi Naz

The Daily Star: Bangladesh: Tuesday, 16 December 2025.

The absence of Bangladesh's three information commissioners vacancies that, almost a year and a half on have left the Right to Information (RTI) regime severely debilitated, with replacements still inexplicably pending. However, instead of lamenting about it today, let's learn how the country's dedicated RTI activists our "RTI warriors" are coping with the situation. Trained over the years by a handful of committed NGOs, these individuals are locally recognised for helping people use the law to promote transparency and oversight in governance. In the absence of a functioning information commission, their work has become riskier and more complex, demanding greater perseverance and strategic acuity.
Encouragingly, although some have grown disheartened and stepped back, a significant number continue with remarkable determination and tenacity. Rather than retreating in the face of bureaucratic inertia, these RTI warriors have adopted a strategy of persistence: signalling to public officials that even without formal oversight citizens remain vigilant, committed to monitoring public services, and prepared to demand accountability.
The experiences they shared several of which will be mentioned later show how ordinary citizens have continued to use the RTI Act not only to resolve immediate problems but also to signal institutional scrutiny, promote transparency, and sustain civic pressure on authorities. These examples demonstrate the power of citizen engagement, even when institutional support is temporarily lacking, and offer critical insights into the resilience, strategies and impact of Bangladesh's RTI movement.
The following case studies highlight how RTI has been used to ensure public health accountability, protect infrastructure, and safeguard citizens' rights despite the challenges posed by a dormant information commission.
Ensuring public health accountability
In June 2025, Mukta Akter used the RTI Act to address the denial of free medicines to her sick brother at Jaldhaka Sadar Hospital in Nilphamari district. Despite entitlement under government policy, hospital staff told her to buy medicines privately and responded dismissively when questioned.
Mukta, trained in RTI law by an NGO, filed an RTI application requesting (i) lists of medicines provided by the hospital and those purchased externally, and (ii) the hospital's annual government allocation for medicines for FY2024-2025.
Fearing scrutiny, the hospital immediately provided all required medicines free of cost, corrected staff behaviour, and improved procedures demonstrating RTI's power to secure services, enforce transparency, and catalyse institutional reform while strengthening public trust.
Protecting public infrastructure
In Sarkar Para, Nilphamari Sadar upazila, residents were isolated after a private landowner illegally excavated a pond beside an unpaved road, which then collapsed during heavy rain. Trespass over adjoining private land by the neighbouring population became impossible when the owner blocked access. The excavation violated buffer requirements and provisions of the Penal Code, 1860, and the Land-related Offences Prevention and Remedy Act (LCPRA), 2021.
On November 26, 2025, RTI-savvy residents filed applications with the Nilphamari Settlement Office and the assistant commissioner (Land), seeking mouza maps and khatiyan records to establish the road's legal status. Confirmation of the land as public triggered the AC (Land)'s obligations under the LCPRA to investigate, issue recovery orders, and complete remedial action within three months. The case illustrates RTI's value as a non-judicial tool for evidence-gathering and administrative accountability, enabling communities to protect infrastructure and enforce legal remedies efficiently.
The deterrent power of RTI
On September 29, 2025, following a severe accidental electrocution, Dayal Chandra Roy's son was admitted to Nilphamari Sadar Hospital. Although entitled to free treatment, the attending doctor demanded that the father supply a required utensil and purchase medicines externally. After an altercation on the matter, the doctor abruptly referred the child elsewhere for treatment.
Aggrieved by the doctor's decision, the father, with support from a local RTI advocate, threatened to file an RTI application, signalling scrutiny of the denial of treatment, the availability of medicines, and the doctor's administrative conduct. The hospital superintendent intervened immediately: care continued uninterrupted, regular updates were ordered, and the doctor and nurse apologised. The episode demonstrates RTI's deterrent effect compelling responsible conduct and reinforcing transparency under the prospect of legal oversight.
These cases show the continuing, practical power of the RTI Act, 2009 even without a fully operational information commission. Strategically invoked, RTI enables citizens to secure essential services, correct administrative failures, protect public assets, and hold officials to account. They also testify to the resilience, creativity and impact of Bangladesh's RTI activists in promoting transparency, safeguarding rights, and reinforcing institutional accountability.
We hope the interim government now preparing for a free and fair general election will heed citizens' aspirations for transparent, accountable governance, as illustrated earlier, and promptly revitalise the RTI regime and advance a more robust, citizen-friendly RTI law. It is equally fundamental that all political parties seeking a mandate to govern uphold and promote the RTI Act as a cornerstone of good governance and participatory democracy.
(Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz are chairman and deputy director (RTI), respectively, at Research Initiatives, Bangladesh (RIB). They can be reached at rib@citech-bd.com.)

Former bureaucrat Goyal takes oath asCIC; eight commissioners also sworn in : By Vrinda Tulsian

 Hindustan Times: New Delhi: Tuesday, 16 December 2025.
Former IAS officer Raj Kumar Goyal assumed charge as the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) on Monday, while eight other information commissioners took the oath of office, bringing the Central Information Commission to its full sanctioned strength after a gap after several years.

President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Goyal at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Vice President CP Radhakrishnan was also present at the ceremony.
Goyal, a 1990-batch (retired) IAS officer of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre, superannuated as secretary, Department of Justice under the Ministry of Law and Justice, on August 31. He has earlier served as secretary (border management) in the ministry of home affairs and held senior positions in the Centre and in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The post of CIC fell vacant after Heeralal Samariya completed his term on September 13.
The eight new information commissioners are former Railway Board chairman and chief executive officer Jaya Varma Sinha; former Indian Police Service officer Swagat Das, who served in the Intelligence Bureau, the home ministry and the cabinet secretariat; central secretariat service officer Sanjeev Kumar Jindal; former IAS officer Surendra Singh Meena; and former Indian Forest Service officer Khushwant Singh Sethi. Senior journalists P R Ramesh and Ashutosh Chaturvedi, and former Indian Legal Service officer Sudha Rani Relangi, have also been sworn in as information commissioners.
The appointments fill all sanctioned posts in the Commission. Under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, the Central Information Commission is headed by a Chief Information Commissioner and can have up to 10 Information Commissioners. The Commission functions as the final appellate authority for RTI matters involving central public authorities, Union ministries, departments and public sector undertakings.
At various points in recent years, the Commission had been functioning with multiple vacancies, contributing to delays in the hearing and disposal of RTI appeals and complaints, according to data placed before Parliament and disclosures by the Commission.
A three-member panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recommended their names for the appointment last week.
Gandhi recorded a note of dissent during the meeting of the selection panel, officials said. In his dissent, Gandhi raised concerns over the composition of the shortlisted candidates and sought details on social representation among applicants. He stated that the list did not adequately reflect representation from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Economically Backward Classes and minority communities, and submitted his objections in writing.
Government officials, however, said the selection process was carried out in accordance with the prescribed procedure and that the committee finalised the appointments after considering eligible candidates and institutional requirements.
The appointments come amid continued scrutiny of the functioning of information commissions following amendments to the RTI Act in 2019, which changed the tenure and service conditions of Information Commissioners and vested the Union government with the power to notify these through rules. Opposition parties and civil society groups have raised concerns in Parliament and outside over the impact of vacancies and appointment processes on the implementation of the transparency law.

RTI में जानकारी न देने पर सोसायटी प्रबंधक पर जुर्माना:राज्य सूचना आयोग ने 30 हजार रुपए का फाइन लगाया

Dainik Bhaskar: Dhar: Monday, 15 December 2025.

मध्य प्रदेश राज्य सूचना आयोग ने RTI अधिनियम की अनदेखी और गंभीर लापरवाही पर कड़ी कार्रवाई करते हुए आदिम जाति सेवा सहकारी समिति बरमंडल के प्रबंधक पर 30 हजार रुपए का जुर्माना लगाया है। खास बात यह है कि किसी सोसायटी प्रबंधक पर RTI मामले में इस स्तर की कार्रवाई प्रदेश में पहली बार हुई है।
यह मामला RTI कार्यकर्ता श्रीराम मारू द्वारा मांगी गई जानकारी से शुरू हुआ था। समिति के लोक सूचना अधिकारी—यानी प्रबंधक—ने न सिर्फ तय समय-सीमा में सूचना उपलब्ध नहीं कराई, बल्कि प्रथम अपील में भी सुनवाई नहीं हुई। मामला जब राज्य सूचना आयोग पहुंचा, तो यहां भी आदेश का पालन नहीं किया गया। आयोग ने स्पष्ट निर्देश दिए थे कि अपीलकर्ता को निशुल्क सूचना दी जाए, लेकिन प्रबंधक ने इसे भी नजरअंदाज कर दिया।
फर्जी साइन कर पत्र जमा किया
जांच आगे बढ़ी तो कहानी और चौंकाने वाली निकली। आयोग की सुनवाई में खुलासा हुआ कि प्रबंधक ने अपीलकर्ता के फर्जी हस्ताक्षर कर एक संतुष्टि पत्र जमा कराया था, ताकि मामला बंद हो सके। हस्ताक्षर मिलान में यह चाल पकड़ी गई, और आयोग ने इसे गंभीर धोखाधड़ी मानते हुए प्रबंधक के सभी तर्कों को खारिज कर दिया।
1 दिसंबर 2025 को हुई सुनवाई में आयोग ने दोनों प्रकरणों में कुल 30 हजार रुपए का जुर्माना लगाने का आदेश दिया। जुर्माने की राशि एक माह के भीतर जमा कर संबंधित जानकारी सहकारिता आयुक्त एवं पंजीयक संस्थाएं, भोपाल को भेजना अनिवार्य किया गया है। साथ ही प्रबंधक की सेवा पुस्तिका में भी इस कार्रवाई का उल्लेख दर्ज करने के निर्देश दिए गए हैं।
अधिकारियों को दी चेतावनी
प्रथम अपीलीय अधिकारी को भी आयोग ने कड़ी चेतावनी दी है कि आगे से ऐसे मामलों का समय पर और नियमों के अनुसार निराकरण किया जाए, अन्यथा उन्हें भी अनुशासनात्मक दंड का सामना करना पड़ेगा।
RTI कार्यकर्ता श्रीराम मारू का कहना है कि वे पिछले 11 वर्षों से सोसायटियों से जुड़ी जानकारी जनहित में मांगते आ रहे हैं, लेकिन विभाग अक्सर इसे RTI के दायरे से बाहर बताकर जानकारी देने से बचता रहा। उन्होंने उम्मीद जताई कि इस कार्रवाई के बाद अब आम लोगों को भी सोसायटियों से पारदर्शी जानकारी मिलने का रास्ता आसान होगा।

India’s new data law sparks fears of reduced transparency on Christian persecution

 Counterview: National: Monday, 15 December 2025.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, passed by the Indian Parliament in 2023, came fully into force in November this year, triggering alarm bells among civil society and minority rights groups, who fear it will make their work very difficult, if not impossible.

This comes at a crucial time in the country, where free speech and expression have come under increasing pressure from the federal government led by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological parent, the powerful Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS or national volunteer corps).
A roundtable called in the national capital this week on threats to information and privacy discussed legal and parliamentary ways to secure specific exemptions and strengthen whistleblower protections.
Participants noted how a law ostensibly meant to protect privacy had been weaponized against citizens, especially minorities and the marginalized.
One of the most significant effects of the new law is the way it cripples the pathbreaking Right to Information Act (RTI), which was passed in 2005 by the Congress-led coalition government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government effectively removed the RTI’s core Section 8(1)(J), which allowed personal information of public servants to be disclosed if it served public interest, such as exposing corruption or human rights abuses.
The amendment replaced this with a simple rule: “Information which relates to personal information” shall not be disclosed. This removes the public-interest exception and has serious consequences for transparency and accountability, especially for religious minorities like India’s 28 million Christians who rely on RTI to document persecution and official wrongdoing.
This public-interest clause was crucial. It helped activists and citizens obtain names and actions of police officers who refused to register First Information Reports (FIRs) in attacks on churches, records of their phone calls with vigilante groups, lists of beneficiaries excluded from government schemes, especially Dalit Christians, and status updates on investigations into hate crimes.
This is the sort of information that Christian groups need for public interest litigation in state high courts and the Supreme Court of India to substantiate allegations of persecution and the denial of rights to people who converted from Hindu castes once deemed “untouchable,” who still face exclusion in society, particularly in rural India.
After the digital law’s amendment, this public-interest exception was summarily removed. Now, any information classified as personal information is exempt from RTI disclosure, no matter how important it is for public accountability or human rights.
Legal experts, minority rights groups, civil society organizations, and former federal information officials have called this the biggest setback to the RTI Act since 2005.
The government claims the RTI Act still allows disclosure when public interest outweighs harm, but in practice, the new wording in the digital law takes precedence. Public authorities routinely reject requests citing the law, and appeals have increased sharply.
This has grave implications for the Christian community as well as Muslims.
Christian persecution in India has been rising. Independent groups have recorded many incidents. The United Christian Forum (UCF) helpline received 731 cases in 2024 and 672 in the first ten months of this year. The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) reported 223 incidents from January to July this year, and Persecution Relief confirmed 640 cases in 2024 and projects over 800 so far this year.
These figures depend on field visits, victim statements, FIR copies, court documents, and RTI replies. The new digital law now blocks or criminalizes several of these sources.
The Catholic Church and the National Council of Churches in India, comprising Protestant denominations, do not independently monitor persecution but use the data of the monitoring groups mentioned above.
There has been widespread consternation internationally. The Open Doors World Watch List ranked India 11th this year, with extreme persecution in at least 26 states. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended India remain a “country of particular concern” for the sixth consecutive year.
The Indian government routinely rejects such international data, calling it interference in the internal affairs of a democratic country.
Besides minorities, equally if not more dangerous, is the threat the new digital law poses to activists and journalists who are deemed to be “data fiduciaries.”
In fact, anyone who collects personal data systematically — names, photos, national identity numbers, phone records, testimonies — for reporting or advocacy becomes a “data fiduciary” under the new law.
Unless they get clear consent from every person whose data they collect, limit data collection, and allow people to withdraw consent or ask for deletion, they face hefty fines.
This creates serious problems in persecution cases. Victims often fear giving written consent because it could lead to reprisals. Perpetrators and complicit officials will never consent. Anonymized data cannot prove patterns of bias or repeated offences by named perpetrators.
Perpetrators or officials supporting them can now use the law to harass activists and groups. Several NGOs have already received notices under the new law, even before its rules were finalized.
For Dalit Christians, the RTI Act was the main tool to prove ongoing discrimination against them, but this route is now largely closed.
In tribal-dominated states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Manipur, attacks on Christians have risen. RTI replies that could show police refusing to act or supplying arms to village defence committees are no longer available.
Anti-conversion laws in 12 Indian states require permission for religious conversions and place the burden of proof on the accused. RTI was used to show that 90–95 percent of cases end in acquittal or closure in courts, demonstrating misuse of these laws. Now, such statistics are hard to obtain.
In Manipur, ethnic violence since May 2023 has damaged or destroyed over 5,000 churches and displaced more than 60,000 Kuki-Zo Christians. RTI replies previously proved that police arms reached militias. Similar queries are now rejected.
The Editors Guild of India and Digital News Publishers Association stated in October 2025 that the lack of clear journalistic exemptions makes reporting on communal violence legally risky. Many mainstream media outlets have stopped naming perpetrators or police officers in their reports on minority attacks, citing legal concerns.
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and the UK’s Data Protection Act 2018 include clear exemptions for journalism, academic, artistic, or literary expression when done in the public interest.
The new Indian law has no such exemption, despite repeated civil society requests during consultations from 2018 to 2023.

TN public universities face over 40% staff vacancies, RTI data shows

The News Minute: Tamil Nadu: Monday, 15 December 2025.
More than 40% of sanctioned faculty positions, including those of professor, associate professor, and assistant professor, in 12 of 21 public universities in Tamil Nadu are lying vacant, according to RTI data and a representation to the state government by TANFUFA.

While a legal battle with the Union government has prevented the Tamil Nadu government from appointing vice-chancellors in many public universities, the institutions themselves currently face a major academic crisis due to rising vacancies in teaching staff.
More than 40% of sanctioned faculty positions, including those of professor, associate professor, and assistant professor, in 12 of 21 state universities are lying vacant, according to data sourced through Right to Information (RTI) Act applications in April 2025 and a representation submitted by the Tamil Nadu Federation of Universities Faculty Association (TANFUFA) to the state government on October 27.
In the remaining nine universities, the vacancies are in the 15-40% range, the data states. The universities include those under the higher education, health, law, and animal husbandry ministries.
In the 168-year-old University of Madras, 65% of sanctioned teaching posts are vacant. The corresponding numbers for Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University (TNDALU) is 46%, followed by Tamil Nadu Open University (53%), Anna University (45.44%), Bharathidasan University in Tiruchirapalli (49.57%) and Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in Tirunelveli (50%), the data shows.
The vacancies are set to swell with the impending retirement of a few more faculty, the universities indicated in their RTI responses.
Analysis of the data shows that the overall vacancy percentage would look a lot worse if not for significant appointments in the assistant professor scale, most of which were made in 2014 the last major recruitment drive conducted by state universities.
The RTI response also reveals that some universities even have departments functioning without a single permanent teaching faculty. For instance, in TNDALU, the departments of Human Rights and Duties Education, Crime and Forensic Law and Property Law don’t have a single professor.
Similarly, TNOU has 10 such departments, the Tamil University in Thanjavur has two and the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University has one.
A senior professor at the University of Madras said that the usual procedure after a faculty member retires is for the vice-chancellor to recruit new staff through due procedure.
However, owing to the precarious financial position of universities, vice-chancellors have been asked to take prior sanctions from the state government. The recruitment is approved only if financially viable, the professor said. He added that in the last few years, even recruitment proposals have come to a standstill, as many universities do not have vice-chancellors.
Multiple professors TNM spoke to said that departments frequently function with only one or two permanent faculty members. Professors say they are managing the situation by hiring faculty on a contract basis.
Alternatively, departments have been merged and as a stop-gap solution, professors from other disciplines have been “deputed” to manage understaffed departments.
For instance, at Madurai Kamarajar University (MKU), a journalism professor was asked to head the School of Economics, while a sociology professor headed the School of Education, a serving academic said.
Bharatidasan University runs 32 departments but has just four faculty in the rank of professor. TNOU has a sanctioned strength of 11 professors but has only two. Similarly, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University has only three professors against a sanctioned strength of 18, while Alagappa University in Karaikudi has only seven professors out of 31 sanctioned positions.
To tide over the vacancies, Anna University recently hired 20 retired professors as professors emeritus and has planned to recruit “professors of practice” from the industry.
Multiple serving and retired academics from across Tamil Nadu said that such a state of affairs has directly impacted the quality of teaching, research output, and other allied activities like the development of syllabi and curricula.
If this were to continue, it would eventually be detrimental to the growth and ranking of the institutions, affect the overall academic climate and weaken the higher education system in the state, they further said.
In some cases, the faculty shortage has affected the number of courses offered by the institute. For instance, the number of courses offered by TNOU has dropped from 80 in 2017 to just 30 now, a serving academic said.
The impact
Understanding how faculty vacancies affect universities requires a glimpse into their roles.
According to former vice-chancellor of University of Madras P Duraisamy, university professors must conduct and drive cutting-edge research, guide PhD scholars, conduct classes for postgraduate students, steer academic excellence by playing a crucial part in the drafting of university curriculum and syllabus, and oversee the affiliation process of colleges.
Duraisamy said that the UGC recommends a faculty strength of at least one professor, two associates and two to three assistant professors in departments that offer PG courses.
Currently, departments facing a shortfall are hiring lecturers on a contract basis, which brings down the quality, given their inexperience and comparatively lesser exposure, he added. The contract lecturers are also ineligible for research grants or guideship, Duraisamy also said.
Multiple professors TNM spoke to echoed how vacancies have translated into longer teaching hours, which eats into the time they allocate for research and guideship.
A senior professor in a southern Tamil Nadu university said his teaching hours have increased from the mandated 14 hours a week to around 20. “Professors are overstretched and working beyond class hours to manage guideship, their own research which might include travel, and other professional commitments,” he said.
Additionally, the shortfall in senior faculty translates into fewer available PhD guides, which burdens serving professors. “Guiding five research scholars at a time is sustainable. But currently professors are taking on more scholars and are unable to provide quality guidance,” said a senior professor of a Chennai-based university.
Duraisamy said that the quality and quantity of research output is important for a university, as it brings in funds through grants and has a bearing on ranking underscoring the repercussions of inexperienced faculty members.
Additionally, university professors also work with decision-making bodies like the Board of Studies (BoS), affiliation committees, etc., to draft the curriculum and syllabus followed by affiliated colleges.
“Experienced professors can bring the latest trends and developments into the curriculum and syllabus followed by affiliated colleges. Assistant professors or guest faculty may not be able to contribute similarly due to limited exposure and experience,” Duraisamy said.
The state government’s plan
While Higher Education secretary P Shankar IAS declined to comment, saying he was busy, sources from multiple universities said the government had collected data and has planned to fill the vacancies through a unified recruitment process via the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB). Similarly, the non-teaching faculty vacancies will be filled through the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC), the sources added.
This impending move has not gone down well with university professors, as they feel it undermines the institute’s academic and administrative independence. Historically, universities have recruited their staff through independent advertisements and interviews after approval from the vice-chancellor and administrative bodies like the syndicate.
An omnibus recruitment would also not be in line with the specific talent required by each university’s customised positions for interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary posts, professors said.
For example, a professor at a university in central Tamil Nadu pointed out how a zoology degree offered by an institute in a coastal district would include topics on the marine ecosystem, while one offered by a landlocked district like Coimbatore would incorporate topics from forest ecologies.
Similarly, a university offering a bioelectronics course would want the selection panel to include subject experts from physics and chemistry. The professor questioned if a unified agency like the TRB would be able to incorporate such nuances in their selection process.
The bogey of private universities
Academics are also worried that a drop in standards in public universities would gradually shift students towards private universities, which, apart from attracting the best academic talent, are also advantaged by relaxed retirement rules for faculty.
“In Tamil Nadu, the retirement age for professors is 60 years, while in a private university it is 65. This means that the best and most experienced minds from Tamil Nadu’s public education system are hired by private institutes for prestigious posts which add to their brand value and ranking,” three serving and retired professors told TNM.
TANFUFA’s representation to the Tamil Nadu government cites the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments’ recent decisions to raise the retirement age of professors to 65, urging a similar move in the state. This would ensure continued academic excellence, quality mentoring and research productivity in public universities, the representation said.
Emphasising the need to strengthen public universities, Duraisamy told TNM that private universities usually only run courses that are commercially viable, but the state has a duty to offer courses that shape public discourse and serve a social need, such as anthropology, archaeology, and history.

CIC Attains Full Strength With RK Goyal as Chief Information Commissioner; Eight ICs Appointed

Indian Mandarins: New Delhi: Sunday, 14 December 2025.

The Central Information Commission (CIC), the apex transparency watchdog, is finally set to operate at its full capacity for the first time in years, with the New Delhi establishment completing the high-level process to fill nine critical vacancies.
Indianmandarins has learnt that files pertaining to the appointment of the new Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and eight Information Commissioners (ICs) have reached the highest levels of the government and are expected to receive final endorsement shortly.
Currently, the headless CIC has only two Members Anandi Ramalingam (Former CMD, Bharat Electronics Ltd and Vinod Kumar Tiwari (Retd IFoS: HP) whhile eight posts of IC are laying vacant.
If the internal schedule holds, the President of India is expected to administer the oath of office to the next Chief Information Commissioner as early as next week. Following this, the new Chief IC will administer the oath to the eight Information Commissioners, bringing the Commission's total strength to 11 (Chief IC + 10 ICs).
The move comes as a major push to clear the substantial backlog of appeals and complaints under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, which has mounted while the Commission functioned with a skeleton staff.
The Current Crisis:
The CIC has been operating with severe constraints, as the post of the Chief Information Commissioner is currently vacant, and only two Information Commissioners are in office. Out of the total sanctioned strength of eleven members, nine positions are lying vacant. The Commission has rarely functioned at its full strength since its inception.
High-Profile Names in the Reckoning:
While the official notification is awaited, sources suggest a mix of high-profile bureaucrats and domain experts are in the final list for the top posts. A retired IAS officer is understood to have been selected to take on the leadership role as Chief Information Commissioner. Jaya Varma Sinha, the former Chairperson of the Railway Board, is reportedly among the candidates selected for the post of Information Commissioner, leveraging her extensive experience in administration.
Other key names in the reckoning include a former Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) Swagat Das (Retd IPS: 1987: CG); a 1993 batch IAS officer; a former Member (Legal) of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) are also in the reckoning. P. R. Ramesh, Khushwant Singh Sethi (Retd IFoS: 1990: TR), Ashutosh Chaturvedi and a 1989 batch of the Central Secretariat Service (CSS) Cadre are also said to be on the final list.
The formal notification is now awaited before the President proceeds with the swearing-in ceremony.

CIC appointments: Government sources counter Rahul, say 5 of 8 shortlisted names from disadvantaged groups

 The Hindu: New Delhi: Saturday, 13 December 2025.
For the eight vacancies of Information Commissioners considered at the meeting, the Centre recommended one SC, one ST, one OBC, one minority representative, and one woman, according to the source

A high-level panel has recommended the names of five people belonging to disadvantaged sections for filling vacancies in the Central Information Commission (CIC), sources said, dismissing opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s reported claim that the finalised list lacked names from the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), Other Backward Community (OBC) and minority communities.
The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha recorded his dissent during a meeting of a three-member high-level committee, comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and himself, held on Wednesday (December 10, 2025) to choose the next Chief Information Commissioner and eight Information Commissioners.
Dismissing Mr. Gandhi’s claims, the sources said eight names were finalised for filling the vacancies in the CIC by the three-member committee.
For the eight vacancies of Information Commissioners considered at the meeting, the Centre recommended one SC, one ST, one OBC, one minority representative, and one woman, according to the sources.
Overall, five of the eight recommended names were from disadvantaged sections.
The CIC was established in 2005. From 2005 to 2014, during the UPA Government’s tenure, not a single person from the SC/ST community was appointed as either a member or the chairperson of the commission, they said.
It was the NDA Government that appointed Suresh Chandra in 2018, a member of the ST community, to the CIC.
In 2020, Heeralal Samariya was appointed as Information Commissioner, and in 2023, he became the Chief Information Commissioner the first-ever CIC from the SC community, the sources said.

Former IAS Rajkumar Goyal likely to head Central Information Commission

The Economic Times: New Delhi: Saturday, 13 December 2025.
Former law secretary and retired 1990 batch IAS officer Rajkumar Goyal is likely to be named the chief of Central Information Commission, the final appellate authority for the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Journalist P R Ramesh, former Railway Board chairman Jaya Verma Sinha, former social justice and empowerment secretary Surendra Singh Meena, former IPS officer Swagat Das, Ashutosh Chaturvedi, former Indian Forest Service Officer Khushwant Singh Sethi, Sudha Rani Relangi and Sanjeev Kumar Jindal are likely to be appointed as information commissioners, according to sources. The formal notification is likely to be issued on Saturday. Jindal is also a retired IAS who was an additional secretary in  home ministry.
With these appointments, the government has filled all the nine vacancies, including that of the chief, in the commission. Anandi Ramalingam and Vinod Kumar Tiwari are the only two information commissioners at CIC presently. With Ramalingam, there will be three women information commissioners at CIC -the highest ever representation of women on the panel.
The appointments had become a highly political issue with Leader of Opposition submitting a dissent note saying there wasn't ample representation of candidates belonging to SC, ST and OBC categories presented at the meeting of a three-member high-level committee, comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Gandhi, held on Wednesday.

More cases booked under SC/ST Act in Pudukottai: RTI

Times of India: Trichy: Friday, 12 December 2025.
Pudukottai district has recorded nearly double the number of cases registered under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the last five years compared to the previous five, according to an RTI response obtained by a Pudukottai-based activist.

The RTI filed by K Muruganandham revealed that 463 cases were registered across all 43 police stations in the district between Jan 1, 2020, and Aug 31, 2025. The activist had filed two separate queries one for the past five years (2020–2025) and another for the last 10 years (2015–2025). The 10-year dataset showed a total of 697 cases registered until Aug 31 this year, with 463 of them falling within the last five years alone.
Within the five-year period, 2020 saw the fewest cases at 55, while 2022 recorded the highest at 115. In 2023, 101 cases were registered, followed by a drop to 64 in 2024. So far this year, 56 cases have been recorded. Police stations in Karambakudi, Annaivasal and Vadakadu accounted for the highest numbers with 31, 27 and 20 cases respectively. Aranthangi and Gandharvakottai recorded 33 and 31 cases.
Referring to a clash in May in Vadakadu, where huts belonging to SC residents were set on fire in a temple dispute, he said caste violence has become more pronounced in recent years, resulting in a surge in cases. "Many cases linger for years in court. Although investigations under the SC/ST Act should be completed within a stipulated time frame, this is rarely followed. Delays in filing chargesheets, prolonged court proceedings, lack of awareness about the Act, and at times, indifference from authorities all contribute to this," he said.
He added that only 10 convictions have been recorded in the last decade, with none in the past three years. Meanwhile, 120 cases have ended in acquittals, and 22 remain under investigation.
A Kathir of the dalit rights NGO Evidence attributed the rise in cases being registered after the Vengaivayal incident in 2022. "After the incident played out prominently, more cases began to be taken seriously and registered by law enforcement agencies as they realised it could spiral into a bigger issue. But the bigger factor is the growing awareness among people, who are now coming forward to lodge- those complaints," he said.

RTI activist gets notice for hearing - 11 years after seeking info

Times of India: Raichur: Friday, 12 December 2025.
An RTI appeal submitted in Jan 2015 finally received a response after a lengthy wait of 11 years. RTI activist Allappa has recently been notified about the hearing for his RTI appeal, which he lodged in 2015, following an extensive delay of 11 years.

"I submitted a request under the Right to Information Act in Jan 2015 to obtain details regarding the survey number, area, and original maps of govt lands within the Devdurg Municipality from 1964 to 2015. However, after not receiving a response, I filed an appeal to the State Information Commission, SIC. Eleven years later, I received a notice from the Kalaburagi Bench of the SIC to attend a hearing on Thursday," he stated.
Through the media, Allappa expressed his dissatisfaction with the RTI Commission's performance by questioning the actions of both the commission and the govt throughout the years, as well as the lengthy process to attend to a simple query.
He claimed that the Karnataka Information Commission was effective until 2018, but since then, it has acted as a protective shield for officials.
"There is no fear of the commission among corrupt officials. The situation is such that applicants are being denied justice," Allappa said, expressing his dissatisfaction.

Activists plan a legal fight against datalaw clauses

The Hindu: New Delhi: Friday, 12 December 2025.
Transparency advocates have pushed back on the Right to Information Act’s dilution through the Digital Personal Data Protection Act

For long, transparency advocates have decried the Digital Personal Data Protection Act’s dilution of the Right to Information Act, executed by a reduction to Section 8(1)(j), which previously allowed disclosure of personal information with safeguards; that allowance became a full exemption after the DPDP Act was notified in November. Now, civil society groups are considering the next steps, including a legal challenge, to continue their fight against the dilution.
The groups include the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), the Right to Food Campaign, the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, the National Federation of Indian Women, the Right to Education Campaign, the National Alliance of Peoples’ Movements, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Internet Freedom Foundation, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Common Cause, and Constitutional Conduct Group.
In a meeting in the capital on Wednesday (December 10, 2025), the groups discussed the way forward, and committed to a legal challenge. “It was resolved that the campaign will continue its efforts to raise awareness about the implications of the law and also approach courts to challenge the provisions of the law,” a statement by the Roll Back RTI Amendments Campaign said.
Retired Supreme Court judge and chairman of the United Nations Internal Justice Council Madan B. Lokur assailed the amendments, saying that a full restriction on sharing personal information under the RTI Act would impede public accountability. Citing the example of the blaze in a Goa nightclub on December 6, Mr. Lokur said that government departments could refuse to identify key public officials in responsible positions due to this exemption.
Beyond the RTI Act amendment, the groups discussed other concerns about the DPDP Act. “The chilling impact on activists, journalists, lawyers, political parties, groups and organisations who collect, analyse and disseminate critical information as they will become ‘data fiduciaries’ under the law was discussed,” the statement said. “The excessive centralisation of power in the central government, including the constitution of a government-controlled Data Protection Board with powers to levy penalties of up to ₹250 crore (which can be doubled up to ₹500 crore), raises concerns about the weaponisation of this law against those seeking accountability.”

Rahul Gandhi records dissent as PM-led panel meets to select CIC, Vigilance Commissioner: What LoP objected to

The Indian Express: New Delhi: Thursday, 11 December 2025.
After Gandhi points to a “systematic pattern” of “exclusion” of backward and minority communities in appointments to Constitutional posts, PM Modi, Amit Shah agree to consider a few appointments from the limited applicant pool.

At a meeting Wednesday of the three-member panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to choose the next Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners, and a Vigilance Commissioner, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi recorded his dissent while pointing out that the shortlists lacked names from the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, OBC, EBC and minority communities. The third member of the panel is Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Sources said Gandhi had asked the government several weeks ago to provide him with the caste composition of the applicants. The details were provided Wednesday and sources said only 7% of the applicants and one shortlisted candidate were from the backward communities. Gandhi flagged this at the meeting and submitted a detailed dissent note.
Gandhi, sources said, also said that the government was weakening the Right to Information Act, alleging that some of the shortlisted candidates had a record of not being transparent in their previous capacities.
He claimed that there had been a “systematic pattern” of “exclusion” of SC, ST, OBC, EBC and minority communities when it came to appointments to Constitutional and autonomous institutions. Sources said that after Gandhi raised the issue, there was an agreement to consider a few appointments from the limited applicant pool.
The meetings came a day after Gandhi said in Lok Sabha that he, as the Opposition nominee, had no voice in meetings of such panels. He was talking in the context of the selection of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners, which, like the CIC and CVC selection panels, has the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister as members.
“I sit in that room. It is a so-called democratic decision. On one side, PM Modi and Amit Shah and on the other side the LoP. I have no voice in that room. What they decide is what happens,” Gandhi told Lok Sabha Tuesday.
The post of the CIC has been lying vacant since September 13, when incumbent Heerala Samariya, a Dalit, demitted office on attaining the age of 65. Eight posts of Information Commissioners (ICs) too have been lying vacant for some years. The Commission, which can have up to ten Information Commissioners, now has only two Commissioners.
This is not the first time the Opposition has disagreed with the government on the appointment of the CIC. In fact, the appointment of Samariya in 2023 too had triggered a row with Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Opposition member in the PM-led high-powered selection committee then, claiming that the government neither consulted nor informed him about his selection.
In 2020, Chowdhury had in the meeting of the selection panel opposed the appointment of former IFS officer and Information Commissioner Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha as the Chief Information Commissioner and journalist Uday Mahurkar as an Information Commissioner. Sinha and Mahurkar were appointed despite objections by Chowdhury in a dissent note he had submitted.