91% of names back in Bengal electoral roll as SIR tribunals dispose of handful of appeals: Written by: Ravik Bhattacharya, Atri Mitra

The Indian Express: Kolkata: Wednesday, 26 August 2026.
Cong MP, who filed an RTI, says additional 10 lakh appeals were filed in tribunals for deletions, seeks EC’s clarification

In South 24 Parganas district, of the 3,21,332 appeals filed, 20,107 names have been included and 24 excluded so far. This is the highest inclusion of names so far, followed by in Hooghly where 19,528 names have been added in the rolls.

The SIR appellate tribunals in West Bengal have so far disposed of 82,782 appeals. Out of which, 91 per cent (75,443) of names have been added back to the state’s electoral list, while 8.86 per cent (7,339) of names have been excluded.
This has been revealed by the Election Commission (ED) in an RTI reply, which was filed by Congress MP Isha Khan Chowdhury.
However, as per the EC’s reply under the Right To Information (RTI) Act, the number of appeals filed was more than the number of people listed as “Not Eligible” in the adjudication process.
Citing the RTI reply, the MP said, “The major concern is that 38,10,620 appeals were filed against 27,28,500 voters recorded as ‘Not Eligible’ – a difference of 10,82,120 appeals. These were filed by the Election Commission for excluding voters who had voted in this year’s Assembly elections.  This requires immediate clarification by the Election Commission,” Chowdhury said.
Pointing to inclusion of 75,443 names in the electoral rolls out of the 82,782 appeals so far disposed of by the appellate tribunals, the Congress MP said, “In other words, more than 91 per cent of the disposed cases have resulted in restoration, raising a serious question about the initial deletion of genuine voters and whether eligible citizens were denied the opportunity to exercise their right to vote.”
“The consequences are not merely electoral. Many affected citizens are living in fear and uncertainty, facing difficulties in accessing government benefits or unable to travel abroad for employment due to apprehensions regarding detention. Electoral rolls must be accurate, transparent and inclusive. No genuine citizen should be deprived of the right,” he added.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Prasenjit Bose, who leads the party’s SIR panel and is one of the petitioners challenging the SIR exercise in the Supreme Court, said that only seven lakh out of the 27 lakh voters excluded by the adjudication phase over “logical discrepancies” have been able to file appeals.
“We informed the Supreme Court that the state government officials are claiming that only 7 lakh out of total 27 lakh deleted electors have filed appeals so far. The rest of the appeals have been filed by EC or individual objectors,” Bose said.
“The intention behind the EC’s March 10 order for constituting the Appellate Tribunals was to create a mechanism by which those persons whose claim for inclusion was rejected by the judicial officers could be included in the electoral rolls and not to create a means for the EC and other objectors to file bulk appeals for deletions,” he added.
The Congress leader said that they have urged the Supreme Court to set up a time-bound schedule for the disposal of the appeals, citing the elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Howrah Municipal Corporation scheduled to be held by the end of this year.
According to data provided by the EC, the highest number of appeals were filed in the border district of Murshidabad. Of the 7,47,305 appeals filed in the district, 434 names have been included and 53 excluded so far.  (See chart)
In another border district of Malda, 5,31,149 appeals were filed, and out of 1,471 cases disposed of, all have been included in the electoral rolls.
In North 24 Parganas district, 3,58,872 appeals were filed, and of the 277 disposed of, all have been included in the rolls.
In South 24 Parganas district, of the 3,21,332 appeals filed, 20,107 names have been included and 24 excluded so far. This is the highest inclusion of names so far, followed by in Hooghly where 19,528 names have been added in the rolls.
In the hill district of Darjeeling, only one name has been excluded so far, and 159 have been included, of the total 50,712 appeals filed here.

RTI reveals gaps in third-party fire audit system, portal glitches mar rollout

Times of India: Goa: Wednesday, 26 August 2026.
Nearly 14 months after the state notified a new third-party audit regime for fire safety systems under its ease of doing business drive, official records accessed under the Right To Information (RTI) Act show that only nine agencies have been empanelled statewide, and the directorate of fire and emergency services (DFES) has no record of how many fire audits these agencies have carried out.

The regime stems from a home department notification dated June 23, 2025, which, for the first time, laid down guidelines to regulate the installation, certification, and third-party auditing of fire protection and life safety systems in the state’s low-risk and high-risk buildings. Under the notification, the DFES director may licence qualified individuals or firms engineers with prescribed fire-safety qualifications and experience to act as ‘licensed agencies’ empowered to conduct fire audits and certify installations, removing the requirement that the department alone inspect every building.
The notification also specifies eligibility criteria that every licensed agency must meet before empanelment: A degree or diploma in fire engineering (or equivalent professional membership, such as a fellowship of the Institution of Fire Engineers), or a prescribed number of years of relevant experience, along with specified financial solvency, technical track record, infrastructure, and a clean legal record.
It promises a real-time, publicly accessible online dashboard showing the number of inspections conducted, the compliance status of audited buildings, and the performance history of each licensed agency. Section 9 empowers the director to suspend or cancel a licence for non-compliance, submission of false certificates, or negligence and malpractice, after due process.
An RTI reply furnished by the DFES North Zone office on Aug 20 highlights gaps in implementation. When asked for the total number of vendors empanelled to conduct third-party fire audits, the department said the number was nine statewide. When asked how many fire audits these agencies have carried out, and for the names and addresses of the buildings audited, the department responded, “Information not available.” More than a year after the system was notified and despite the dashboard promise the DFES appears to have no consolidated record of third-party audits conducted under the regime.
The department also declined to disclose the specific technical and professional qualifications held by the owners of the nine empanelled firms despite the notification’s eligibility requirements citing the third-party information exemption under Section 8(1)(d) read with Section 11 of the RTI Act.
While the department furnished copies of notices convening its scrutiny committee roughly once a month between Nov 2025 and Aug 2026, these were meeting notices, not signed minutes recording what was discussed or decided, as sought in the RTI query.
Sources familiar with the rollout said implementation has been rockier than the paperwork suggests. They said the option to select a third-party agency on the online NOC portal was non-functional for an extended period, forcing applicants back to fire offices for inspections despite the third-party system being in force. The glitch, they said, was fixed only in the past few days.

Public Authority Not Obliged To Collect Information From Private Body To Furnish To An Applicant: Bombay High Court

Live Law: Mumbai: Wednesday, 26 August 2026.

The Bombay High Court has held that a public authority is not under an obligation under the RTI Act to obtain information from a private body to satisfy an applicant seeking information. The Court further held that while the public authority is required to furnish the information held by it at the point in time when the request is made, the RTI Act does not cast an obligation to collect or collate information not available with it and then to furnish the same.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Manish Pitale and Justice Shreeram V. Shirsat was hearing a batch of writ petitions filed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), challenging orders passed by the Central Information Commission (CIC), vide which the CIC had directed SEBI to obtain information from BSE and provide it to applicants under the RTI Act. The common question before the Court was whether a public authority is obliged to collect or obtain information from a private body and furnish the same to an RTI applicant.
The petitioners submitted that SEBI, as a public authority and regulator, was required to provide information available with it when an RTI application was submitted, subject to the provisions of the Act, including Section 8, but was not required to collect information from third parties such as BSE.
The Court noted that Section 2(f) requires a public authority to furnish information held by it relating to any private body. However, it clarified that though a public authority is required to provide information held by it at the point in time when the request is made, the provisions cannot be stretched to impose an obligation on bodies like SEBI to call upon third parties to provide information.
“The provisions do not indicate that a public authority, like SEBI in the present case, which is a regulatory body empowered to call upon third parties to provide information in terms of its own governing statute, is under an obligation to obtain information from third parties to satisfy persons applying for such information,” the Court remarked.
The Court referred to the Supreme Court's decision in CBSE v. Aditya Bandopadhyay, and noted that the Supreme Court clearly laid down the position that the RTI Act does not place an obligation upon a public authority like SEBI to collect or collate information not available with it and then to furnish the same to the applicants.
The Court further noted that the CIC itself had subsequently passed orders declining to direct public authorities such as SEBI to obtain information from third parties such as BSE.
“… the CIC itself, in various orders brought to our notice after the Supreme Court clarified the said position of law… and declined to issue any direction to the public authorities like SEBI, to obtain information from third parties like BSE, to provide information to the applicants under the provisions of the RTI Act,” the Court observed.
Hence, while allowing the petitions, the Court held that the reasoning adopted by the CIC in the impugned orders could not be sustained. The orders passed by the CIC were accordingly quashed.
Case Title: Securities and Exchange Board of India v. Yogesh Babulal Mehta [Writ Petition No. 1664 of 2009 & connected matters]
(Click Here to Download Order)

After 13 marks rise to 31, Haryana panel flags GJUST re-evaluation delay : Siddarth Banerjee

Times of India: Chandigarh: Tuesday, 25 August 2026.
A delay in the declaration of a re-evaluation result has allegedly cost a Haryana university student an academic year, with her revised score increasing from 13 to 31 issued only after she filed an RTI application.

The ordeal prompted the Haryana State Information Commission to recommend that Hisar-based Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology (GJUST) prescribe a time limit for declaring re-evaluation results. The Aug 17 recommendation by state information commissioner Dr Ajay Kumar Sura came after the university admitted there was no prescribed timeframe for completing re-evaluation. Sanjay Singh, OSD to the GJUST vice-chancellor, “candidly admitted” this before the commission and expressed sympathy with the student’s father.
The father told the commission that the university had no time limit, rule, norm or regulation for declaring and communicating re-evaluation results. He said the delay meant his daughter lost a precious academic session for higher studies.
The commission said the issue was not merely academic, noting that unexplained or indefinite delays could seriously affect students’ academic progression. “Such matters, if not addressed through a transparent and time-bound administrative mechanism, have the potential to cause avoidable hardship to students and, in appropriate cases, to erode public confidence in the functioning of public authorities,” Sura wrote.
The university’s controller of examinations, Yashpal Singal, also confirmed that no specific timeframe had been prescribed, though the university endeavoured to declare re-evaluation results at the earliest.
Sura, exercising powers under Section 25(5) of the RTI Act, recommended that the GJUST registrar, in consultation with the controller of examinations and other competent authorities, consider prescribing a “definite and reasonable time-frame” for disposal of re-evaluation applications and declaration of the resultant outcome.
The commission said the exercise should preferably be completed within two months of receiving the order, with its outcome communicated to the appellant under intimation to the commission. The secretariat was directed to forward the order to the GJUST registrar for appropriate action.
The commission also recorded that the student had sought her answer sheet for the May 2025 result, in which she was awarded 13 marks. The university said it could not provide the record as its calendar requires answer sheets to be weeded out within nine months of result declaration.

One hundred resolutions, one voice expanding access to information for every Filipino

UNODC: International: Tuesday, 25 August 2026.
A participant shares ideas during a workshop on the Right of Information Bill, organized by UNODC on 18 May 2026 in Manila, Philippines.

“Freedom of information matters to every Filipino, simply because we live in a democratic society. Democracy is grounded in decisions, and decisions are supposed to be based on accurate data and information,” said Bryan Ezra Gonzales, from the advocacy group, GoodGov PH.
These decisions shape everyday life. They determine how public money is spent, where hospitals and schools are built, how communities are protected and which services people receive.
Access to information allows citizens to monitor government spending, verify project implementation and access relevant public records. Access to information is also a frontline defence against corruption: when budgets, procurement and public contracts can be scrutinized, it becomes far harder to conceal bribery, the misuse of public funds or conflicts of interest.
This is why the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) — which the Philippines ratified in 2006 — requires States Parties to enhance transparency in public administration and to ensure public access to information as measures to prevent corruption.
For nearly four decades, the right to information has been enshrined in the Philippine Constitution. Yet, despite repeated legislative efforts since 1987, the lack of enabling legislation has meant that this constitutional guarantee has not been fully realized in practice.
This gap was also highlighted during the Philippines review under UNCAC, where reviewing experts recommended the adoption of a comprehensive right to information legislation — the very reform this campaign seeks to advance.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime, together with the Freedom of Information Program Management Office (FOI-PMO) and with the support of the Government of Sweden, launched a nationwide campaign to strengthen public and institutional backing for the Right of Information (RTI) Bill – a landmark opportunity to translate a long-standing constitutional right into an effective legal framework.
If enacted, the law would offer a practical framework for openness and democratic participation, providing public access to government records, supporting public access to that information and establishing an independent oversight body.
The campaign
UNODC and FOI-PMO worked with civil society organizations from across the Philippines, providing them with practical advocacy tools and resources to engage municipal and city councils. UNODC equipped civil society organizations with a toolkit: a model resolution (in Filipino and English), a briefing document on RTI legislation, a guidance note on engaging local councils, FAQs for council members, a template letter for the council agenda and an action-planning template.
These organizations then worked in Sanggunang Bayan and Sangguniang Pankungsod to secure 100 local government resolutions calling on Congress to enact a national right to information law. These resolutions represent a collective voice and national commitment to transparency and accountability in the fight against corruption. They also combine international standards on corruption with local reform priorities.
Today, the nation stands closer than ever to making one of its most significant transparency reforms.
In Congress, both parliament's chambers recently passed the RTI bill on its third and final readings. To become law, the two chambers must now reconcile and ratify their respective versions of the bill through a bicameral conference committee before it is transmitted to the President. If the President signs it or takes no action within 30 days of receiving it the RTI Act will become law, after which an independent oversight body and implementing rules would be established.
Paper is one thing; practice another
"It is important for the government to be prepared to deliver on the promise that it will be open, that it will provide information and documents that citizens need. On the other hand, it is important for the public, citizens in general, to know what this bill is for. It is for the delivery of basic services to be improved. It is for transparency and accountability in contracts and projects vested with public interest or conducted using public funds," explained Malou Mangahas, Right to Know Right Now Coalition, one of the civil society organizations participating in the campaign.
“UNODC will continue working closely with partners to drive awareness, advance advocacy efforts and promote meaningful civil society participation in support of the RTI legislation in the Philippines," said Annika Wythes, Coordinator, UNODC Corruption and Financial Crime Hub for South-East Asia and the Pacific.

further information

Learn more about the Philippines’ RTI path.

RTI Commission digitalises appeal process : By Dilushi Wijesinghe

The Sunday Times: Sri Lanka: Monday, 24 August 2026.
The Right to Information Commission on Friday (August 21) launched the digitalisation of its appeal process, in a move aimed at making it more accessible, efficient and transparent for citizens.

RTIC Chairman Daya Lankapura (right) and RTIC Director General K.D.S. Ruwanchandra at the launch.

The new system will digitalise the receipt, registration, processing and communication of appeals, reducing the need for appellants to submit physical documents and make repeat visits to the commission.
Speaking at the launch, Chairman Daya Lankapura said the commission was currently functioning with inadequate staff, with only around 17 against a requirement of about 35.
He added the Commission had previously received support for additional legal researchers from external agencies such as the World Bank but that, with the ending of that support, the Commission had been left with only a highly inadequate staff cadre with little capacity to cope with an increased workload.
“However, we have received approval to fill around 11 vacancies, and recruitment is underway. We believe that we will be able to work more efficiently from now on,” he said.

A section of the audience. Pix by Indika Handuwala

Mr. Lankapura also pointed to vacancies among the commissioners as another issue affecting the appeal process. “We have received complaints that the appeal process takes a long time. The reasons were the issues I mentioned. This digitalisation process, together with the increase in our staff, will help us provide a better service to the general public,” he said.
Addressing the launch, partner KBSL Information Technologies Limited’s Chairman Vasee Nesiah said: “The RTI Act didn’t give us a new right. It simply gave us the keys to a home we already owned, to establish a structural legal process and to demand transparency from industries, public departments, local authorities, and state bank entities.”
He said the Government’s digitalisation project would allow for faster appeals and hearings and smoother access for people.
“Applying technology for the sake of modernisation is not a good enough reason to commit time, effort and money. Technology is most effective when you solve a problem or deliver a better outcome in a timelier, more reliable manner. We believe we are witnessing just that at today’s launch of RTI online,” Mr. Nesiah said.

‘Not traceable’ no excuse to deny RTI info, Punjab panel tells officials

The Times of India: Chandigarh: Monday, 24 August 2026.
The Punjab State Information Commission has held that govt officials cannot cite records being “not traceable” as a satisfactory explanation for failing to provide information under the Right to Information Act.

State information commissioner Pooja Gupta, hearing an appeal concerning RTI applications filed with the offices of the regional transport authority (RTA) and regional transport officer (RTO), Patiala, has directed both authorities to conduct an exhaustive search for the records and awarded Rs 10,000 compensation to the appellant.
The appellant had filed RTI applications on Sept 24 and Oct 3, 2023, seeking information from the RTA, Patiala. Nearly three years later, he had neither received a reply nor the requested information.
The commission had issued a show-cause notice to the RTA’s public information officer (PIO) for failing to provide the information within the statutory period. The RTA later said the RTO’s PIO was responsible for supplying the information, while the RTO maintained that whatever information was available in official records had already been provided. The appellant disputed this.
At an earlier hearing, both PIOs had been directed to produce the complete relevant record. When the matter came up again, however, both said the records were “not traceable”.
The commission said the records sought were official records of a public authority and their non-traceability could not, by itself, be accepted as a satisfactory explanation for denying information under the RTI Act. It said public authorities were obliged to maintain and preserve records and could not evade responsibility merely by stating that records were untraceable.
The PIOs have been directed to search all concerned branches, sections, record rooms and offices under their control and identify officials responsible for custody and maintenance of the records.
They have also been asked to submit detailed affidavits specifying the records sought, places searched, officials responsible for their custody, steps taken to trace them and circumstances in which they became untraceable. If the records are not found, the authorities will have to state whether they were lost, misplaced, destroyed or otherwise unavailable, and disclose whether any action or inquiry has been initiated to fix responsibility.
The commission said a “bald statement” that records were “not traceable” would not amount to compliance with its directions. It directed the authorities to make every possible effort to trace the records and provide information available from connected or alternative official records, as permitted under the RTI Act.
“Such kind of behaviour of a govt employee needs to be condemned, and such employees need to be taught a good lesson so that the rest of the employees have the right kind of message to wake up and perform their duties under the RTI Act for ensuring complete transparency and due accountability in the governance affairs of the public authorities (sic),” the Commission said in its order.
The commission observed that the appellant had made every effort to obtain the information but had been made to “run from pillar to post” without receiving it even after notices were issued during the second appeal proceedings. It awarded him Rs 10,000 for the detriment and harassment suffered.
The commission also flagged non-compliance by several public authorities with mandatory proactive disclosure under Section 4 of the RTI Act. It said information was often either not uploaded on official websites or not updated regularly, undermining transparency and accountability and forcing citizens to file individual RTI applications.
It reiterated that every public authority must ensure complete and updated proactive disclosure under Section 4 of the Act in letter and spirit.

Patna High Court sets 45-day deadline for disposing of second appeals under RTI : Written by: Santosh Singh

The Indian Express: Patna: Monday, 24 August 2026.
Ruling that the “State cannot take advantage of its own failure to preserve records,” the court held that authorities cannot refuse information by citing missing, untraceable, or damaged public documents

Stating that a person seeking information should not be left “remediless”, the Patna High Court has ruled that second appeals filed under the RTI law must be decided within 30 days, extendable to a maximum of 45 days.
The order is significant because while the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, has a 45-day deadline for disposing of the first appeal, there is no such timeline for the second appeal.
The court also held that state authorities cannot refuse information by citing missing, untraceable, or damaged public records.
Justice Raj Kumar delivered the verdict on August 11 the order was uploaded two days ago in a 17-year-old Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case.
Petitioner Md Rizwan had filed an RTI application in 2009, seeking certified copies of barwarda (yearly rent payment document) and Register-II records from the Circle Office, Siwan Sadar, for a pending title suit.
The Public Information Officer (PIO)-cum-Circle Officer turned down the request, citing contradictory reasons: claiming, on the one hand, that the original documents were not available, and stating, on the other, that they were in an unreadable, torn condition.
After the petitioner filed a second appeal before the Bihar State Information Commission on May 18, 2010, the matter languished for over a year before being disposed of on January 6, 2012. The proceedings were dropped without addressing the petitioner’s detailed objections, prompting him to move the High Court.
While hearing the case, Justice Kumar addressed the absence of an explicit timeline for second appeals under Section 19(3) of the RTI Act. He relied on precedents from the Karnataka and Calcutta High Courts (Jayaprakash Reddy v. CIC and Akhil Kumar Roy v. WBIC, respectively) to hold that appellate authorities must decide second appeals within 30 to 45 days.
The court said: “This Court is of the view that a second appeal must be decided within a period of 30 days or within such period not exceeding 45 days as decided through various judgments… so that the person seeking information is not left remediless.”
‘Cannot take advantage of own failure’
The court also rejected the “Missing File” defence by emphasising that public authorities have a statutory duty to maintain and preserve public records under Section 4(1) of the RTI Act and the Bihar Records Manual, 1960. “The document being torn or not being legible or untraceable cannot be a ground to deny the furnishing of information which is a public record. The State cannot take advantage of its own failure to preserve records,” said the court.
The court also cited the Central Information Commission’s precedent in Anil Kumar Shukla v. CPIO, MHRD, that had said: “Prima facie, any public authority cannot deny the right of the appellant to get the information by putting forward an excuse of the file going missing.”
Nirbhay Prashant, the petitioner’s advocate, told The Indian Express: “Quashing the State Information Commission’s 2012 order and the Circle Officer’s refusal letter, the High Court directed the District Magistrate, Siwan, and the Circle Officer, Siwan Sadar, to complete the following exercise within eight weeks”. The court further instructed: “If documents are found torn or illegible, get them enlarged, digitised, or typed by experts (attested by the Circle Officer) and provide them to the petitioner.”
Expressing concern over the 17-year delay since the original 2009 application, Justice Kumar said that the matter must finally be set to rest with full compliance from the respondents.

Class 12 boy’s RTI query reveals 23 of 57 Madurai PHCs have no ultrasound sonography units

DT Next: Madurai: Monday, 24 August 2026.
The shortcoming has been forcing pregnant women to approach private scan centres, where each ultrasonography costs between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500, alleges Madurai-based health activist and Akilan’s father Anand Raj

Shirwin Paul Akilan

When most kids his age spent after-school hours trying to best their gaming record, 17-year-old Class 12 student A Shirwin Paul Akilan filed an RTI query to get behind what is ailing primary health centres (PHCs) in the district, and came out with a disturbing find that 23 of Madurai’s 57 PHCs lacked ultrasound sonography (USG) facilities, forcing pregnant women in several rural areas to travel to town or Madurai city for the diagnostic service.
The shortcoming has been forcing pregnant women to approach private scan centres, where each ultrasonography costs between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500, alleges Madurai-based health activist and Akilan’s father Anand Raj.
Akilan sought the details of diagnostic facilities available at PHCs in the district, under the RTI Act.
According to the RTI reply furnished by the district health officer, Madurai, on August 18, the most alarming find was in the Melur block that has an upgraded PHC, besides six PHCs, but none of the seven centres has an ultrasound scan facility.
On his inspiration to file the RTI query, Akilan says he has been accompanying his father, Anand Raj, on field visits to PHCs in southern districts ever since he was in Class IV. He gained firsthand knowledge about the problems faced by people due to the lack of healthcare facilities.
“I learnt from my father that poor infrastructure at government health centres were pushing more and more people towards private hospitals and felt it was my duty as a citizen to bring the issue to the government’s attention,” says Akilan, who lives in the main city of KK Nagar.
“Ultrasound scan facilities are particularly important for pregnant women, who need to undergo scans during pregnancy to monitor the growth of the foetus,” says Raj. The non-availability of a government ultrasound scan facility in Melur block is particularly concerning, he notes.
Tuesdays and Fridays are designated for antenatal care at the PHCs, and around 50 to 60 pregnant women visit the centres for check-ups, he says.
“Now, pregnant women have no other option but to travel 15 to 20 km to undergo scans at private centres in nearby towns or travel farther to the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai,” he laments.
There are 13 blocks and 57 PHCs functioning under the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in Madurai district. Each block has an upgraded PHC (UGPHC).
Ultrasound scans, X-rays and ECGs are among the major diagnostic facilities available at PHCs and UGPHCs, which are important for the early detection and diagnosis of diseases.
The RTI information obtained by Akilan also revealed that ECG facilities are not available at 18 of the 57 PHCs, while three of the 13 UGPHCs — Samayanallur, Chekkanurani and Valayankulam — do not have X-ray facilities.
A pregnant woman may have to undergo four to five scans during a pregnancy, in addition to an echocardiogram, which could cost around Rs 8,000 at private scan centres. The family may also have to bear additional expenses for an attendant accompanying the woman, says a government nurse, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Though the government provides Rs 18,000 under the Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefit Scheme to every eligible pregnant woman, a substantial portion of the assistance could be spent on scans at private centres, says Raj.
There is more ailing the PHCs than the missing infrastructure. According to an official source, the post of radiologist-cum-sonologist at the Government Taluk Hospital in Melur has been vacant for some time. Hence, a sonologist from the Government Taluk Hospital in Usilampatti visits Melur to attend to pregnant women, potentially affecting diagnostic services in both taluks, the source explains.
He also claims that a government doctor had started a private scan centre in Melur amid the increasing demand for ultrasound scans among pregnant women.
Attributing the non-availability of the service in some centres to lapses on the part of officials, the source says the Block Medical Officer should ensure that ultrasound machines are functional and that necessary licences are periodically renewed.
Akilan says he is now developing an app using information obtained through various RTI applications to help people in rural areas find what all facilities are available at government hospitals, so that they do not waste time and money travelling in search of services.

Info panel warns SHRC PIO for disobeying RTI Act

Times of India: Chennai: Monday, 24 August 2026.
The state information panel has warned state human rights commission (SHRC) for not complying with the provisions of the Right to Information Act to furnish reply to RTI queries within the stipulated time.

Chief information commissioner Atulya Misra, while disposing of a plea filed in 2024, censured SHRC’s public information officer and said public authorities should furnish reply to petitions filed under Section 19 (1) of the RTI Act within 30 days.
M Dhanasekaran, of Kancheepuram, filed the petition in June 2024, to the public information officer of SHRC, seeking details of investigation officers and dates of investigation carried out in connection with a SHRC case registered in 2019. He filed his first appeal in July 2024, and then a second appeal before the info panel.
When the appeal was taken up for hearing, public information officer Vidyalakshmi appeared before the commission and said that replies to the original petitions were furnished in Sept 2024 and Nov 2025, but failed to produce a copy of the 2024 reply before the commission. She also submitted a third reply furnished to the petitioner dated July 2026.
The chief information commissioner, while observing that it is clear the petitioner was not provided with relevant information within 30 days, pointed out that the appellate authority too ignored the first appeal by the petitioner. The commissioner warned that the public authority will be penalised under relevant provisions of the RTI Act if the public information officer does not discharge her/his duties.
However, the commission accepted the latest reply provided by the public information officer as full and relevant and disposed of the appeal.

Allahabad HC Imposes Rs.6.7 Lakh Cost on Litigant for Misusing RTI Act : By Saket Sourav

LSJ: Allahabad: Sunday, 23 August 2026.
The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a writ petition and imposed costs totalling Rs.6,70,000 on a petitioner-in-person, holding that he had persistently misused the Right to Information Act, 2005 to harass the Registry and obstruct the administration of justice, and had further defied the Court's direction to appear in person.

Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery was hearing a writ petition filed by Vemula Venkata Vinay Babu alias Vinay Vemula challenging an order dated 28.07.2023 passed by the Commissioner, State Information Commission, U.P., Lucknow, which had dismissed his RTI appeal on the ground that the information sought had already been furnished to him by registered post.
The petition, initially filed through counsel, was later pursued by the petitioner in person after his application to discharge his advocate and appear through video conferencing was only partly allowed the Court having permitted him to appear in person, but not exclusively through video conferencing, a mode of appearance it held to be a matter of convenience and judicial discretion rather than a fundamental right.
The Court recorded that by its earlier order dated 24.07.2026 it had directed the petitioner to appear in person on the next date, failing which the petition would be decided ex-parte, and had also flagged that he had filed a stream of RTI applications concerning the Court's own internal administration ranging from office note sheets and file movement registers to video-conferencing server logs and cause-list arrangements that had no bearing on his case. Despite this, the petitioner appeared once again only through video conferencing and, when offered a date of his convenience, insisted he would not travel to Prayagraj, citing logistical difficulties, even though the record showed he had appeared in person on several earlier occasions.
The Court also considered and dismissed a separate application by the petitioner seeking to punish three of the four respondents for allegedly failing to file a counter affidavit, noting that the counter affidavit of the sole contesting respondent had in fact been filed and served well before the application was moved, and that no such direction had been issued against the other respondents in the first place. Terming the application misconceived and contrary to record, the Court dismissed it with costs of Rs.50,000.
On the petitioner's RTI applications, the Court noted that a Deputy Registrar's report showed 24 such applications filed between 04.06.2026 and 17.07.2026, seeking information such as Bench Secretary log entries, Cisco Webex session logs, and reasons why particular matters were listed or passed over. Holding that such applications served no purpose but to burden Court staff and interfere with judicial functioning, the Court directed that all of them be consigned to record and imposed a cost of Rs.5,000 on each, amounting to Rs.1,20,000 in total.
It is the Court's discretion to allow Video Conferencing or not. If a direction is passed by the Court to appear in-person, that has to be followed without any unreasonable excuse.
On the merits, the Court examined the petitioner's original RTI application and found that each of the queries raised largely concerning police records of complaints made against him had in fact been answered by the authorities, and that the petitioner had neither denied receipt of the earlier registered-post reply nor placed any contrary material on record. The Court also noted a report annexed to the petition indicating that the petitioner was harassing a complainant and her daughter who had lodged a complaint against him. Finding no ground to interfere with the impugned order, the Court dismissed the writ petition, and imposed a further cost of Rs.5,00,000 to discourage litigants from disrupting Court proceedings in this manner.
The Court directed that the cumulative costs of Rs.6,70,000 be deposited by the petitioner with the High Court Legal Services Committee within four weeks, failing which the Registrar General was directed to take appropriate steps for recovery.
Appearances: For the Petitioner: Mr. Prateek Samadhiya, Advocate.
Case Title: Vemula Venkata Vinay Babu Alias Vinay Vemula vs. State of U.P. and 3 others, Writ - C No. 547 of 2024
(Click here to Download the Order)

Failure to provide information: Keralam Survey Director ordered to pay ₹1 lakh compensation

The Hindu: Thiruvananthapuram: Sunday, 23 August 2026.
An 82-year-old Kerala man is set to receive ₹1 lakh in compensation after the State Information Commission found that a Public Information Officer gave a false and misleading reply to his RTI application seeking access to his property records

Kerala Chief Information Commissioner V. Hari Nair

The Keralam State Information Commission has ordered the Director of the Department of Survey and Land Records, Dr. J.O. Arun, to pay ₹1 lakh in compensation after the Public Information Officer gave a false and misleading reply to an individual who had sought information through an RTI (Right to Information) application.
The Chief Information Commissioner V. Hari Nair, in an order dated August 19, has directed P. Vishwambharan, the former Survey Superintendent at Kollam Collectorate and the then Public Information Officer, to pay a fine of ₹20,000.
The origins of the case are from an application filed under the RTI Act by the applicant Kurien George in 2013, with the Directorate of Survey and Land Records.
The application sought the right to personally inspect the relevant file at the Kollam Survey Superintendent’s office regarding the extent or the area of the applicant’s property.
Although the application was transferred from the Survey Directorate to the Kollam District Survey Superintendent under Section 6(3) of the Right to Information Act 2005, the Public Information Officer gave an incorrect reply without granting the applicant, the right to inspect the file.
After failing to obtain the information even through the first appeal, the petitioner approached the Information Commission. Following continued proceedings before the Information Commission and the Kerala High Court, the High Court referred the appeal petition to the Information Commission for consideration.
The State Information Commission issued its final order after conducting a hearing in which the then Public Information Officer (who had since retired) and the first appellate authority were tagged on as additional respondents.
The Commission found that P. Vishwambharan, the Public Information Officer at the time, who gave an incorrect reply without granting the applicant the right to inspect the file relating to the petitioner’s property, had committed a serious violation of the law. The fine was imposed on Mr. Vishwambharan on the basis of this finding of the Commission.
The Survey Director, who appeared before the Commission, admitted the lapses committed by the Public Information Officer and the first appellate authority and promised that all steps would be taken to prevent the recurrence of such lapses in future.
However, the State Information Commission pointed out that an apology would not suffice to allay the physical, mental and financial hardship that the petitioner, Kurien George, now 82 years old, had undergone all these years and thus ordered the Survey Director to pay the petitioner ₹1 lakh in compensation.

Torn, missing records no ground to deny RTI information: HC

Times of India: Patna: Saturday, 22 August 2026.

A 12-year legal battle by Md Rizwan of Siwan has culminated in a landmark Patna high court verdict holding that torn or missing public records cannot be a ground for officials to refuse information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.
A single bench of justice Rajkumar allowed Rizwan’s writ application, filed in 2016, and quashed a 15-year-old order of the state information commission, which had dropped his RTI plea for a certified copy of revenue register-II of his Raiyati land after the record was declared untraceable.
Justice Rajkumar directed the district magistrate and revenue officials in Siwan to search for the missing register in courts and district record rooms within four weeks and reconstruct it if it could not be traced. If found torn, the document must be digitally enlarged by experts, the court ordered.
The verdict, which has implications for RTI applicants across Bihar, was delivered on Aug 11 and came into the public domain on Thursday night.

HC stays Punjab Information Commission order treating inquiry officer as ‘public authority’ under RTI Act

The Tribune: Chandigarh: Saturday, 22 August 2026.
Retired judge was empaneled by Punjab Government as inquiry officer

Photo for representation

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the operation of an order passed by the Punjab State Information Commission holding retired Additional District and Sessions Judge Bhavnesh Chand Gupta to fall within the definition of “public authority” under the provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Justice Kirti Singh issued notice to the Commission and other respondents for November 2 and ordered that the operation of the impugned order dated August 3 shall remain stayed till further orders.
The matter was placed before the Bench after Gupta approached the High Court seeking quashing of the order passed by the Commission in an appeal.
The Bench was told that the commission, vide the impugned order, held Gupta to fall within the definition of “public authority” under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. He was further directed to personally furnish information to the RTI applicant within 30 days. Directions were also sought to quash the order dated April 3, 2025, by which the petitioner was suo motu impleaded as a “necessary party being the custodian of the record”.
Appearing before Justice Kirti Singh’s Bench, counsel Esh Gupta contended that the petitioner  a retired judicial officer was from time to time empaneled by the Punjab government as an inquiry officer for conducting departmental inquiries under the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970.
The matter originated after the respondent-applicant filed a RTI plea dated July 13, 2023, seeking information “regarding the inquiries pending before or decided by the petitioner during different periods”.
Esh submitted that the petitioner had not been the recipient of the RTI application and was not a party to the proceedings at the earlier stages. “It was only vide order dated April 3, 2025, that respondent-Commission suo motu impleaded the petitioner as a necessary party,” it was added.

National Assembly secretariat spent over Rs35 million of public funds to block right to information requests: report

The Current: PK: Friday, 21 August 2026.

The National Assembly Secretariat spent over Rs35 million from 2022 to 2026 on private lawyers to contest information requests made under Right to Information (RTI) laws.
The Pakistan Information Commission released the figures following Appeal No. 5626-04/2026, which journalist Saddia Mazhar filed under the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017.
The disclosed records show the highest annual payout occurred in FY2022-23, when the Secretariat paid Rs20.4 million to eight lawyers. Payouts totaled Rs2.64 million in FY2023-24, Rs11.1 million in FY2024-25, and Rs1.61 million in FY2025-26.
Since January 2022, the Secretariat empanelled 10 special counsel: Hafiz S.A. Rehman, Irfan Qadir, Ilyas Siddiqui, Arfat Ahmed Chaudhary, Amaad Nasir Kundi, Lamia Niazi, Sanaullah, Ahsan Bhoon, Anwar Mughal, and Farhad Ali Khan Durrani.
Advocate Ahsan Bhoon collected the highest single payment to an individual lawyer, taking home Rs9.9 million in FY2024-25. Advocate Irfan Qadir received Rs7.5 million, Barrister Lamia Niazi received Rs6.9 million in FY2022-23, and Advocate Ilyas Siddiqui received Rs2.85 million. Advocate Arfat Ahmed Chaudhary received payments across all four fiscal years Rs1.35 million in FY2022-23, Rs960,000 in FY2023-24, Rs1.2 million in FY2024-25, and Rs900,000 in FY2025-26 totaling Rs4.41 million.
The legal fees stem from litigation that began when the Pakistan Information Commission issued show-cause notices to the secretary of the National Assembly Secretariat over RTI appeals. The Secretariat challenged the notices in the Islamabad High Court, which remanded the cases back to the Commission for final adjudication.
Zafar Sultan, Director General of the National Assembly’s Media Wing, confirmed the Secretariat engaged private lawyers and paid around Rs35 million in legal fees. Sultan stated, “The lawyers were engaged during the tenure of the PTI, and no counsel has been hired during the tenure of the current government.”
However, RTI records reveal the Secretariat filed 14 cases, 12 cases in 2023, one case in 2024, and one case in 2025 while filing zero cases in 2022 or 2026.
The records show the Secretariat spent public funds on external private counsel despite the presence of the Attorney General for Pakistan and federal law officers, who constitute the official legal team of the federation.

एक माह में आरटीआई के लंबित मामलों का निष्पादन अनिवार्य, लापरवाही पर कार्रवाई

Dainik Bhaskar: Bihar: Friday, 21 August 2026.
राज्य सूचना आयोग, बिहार के कड़े रुख के बाद गया जिला प्रशासन ने सूचना के अधिकार के तहत लंबित आवेदनों के निपटारे को लेकर जिलेभर में सख्ती बढ़ा दी है।

प्रथम अपीलीय प्राधिकार सह जिला पदाधिकारी, गयाजी ने जिले के सभी लोक सूचना अधिकारियों को स्पष्ट निर्देश जारी करते हुए कहा है कि सूचना प्रकोष्ठ में लंबित पड़े सभी आवेदनों का एक महीने के भीतर अनिवार्य रूप से निष्पादन किया जाए। सभी लोक सूचना अधिकारियों को लंबित आवेदनों को एक महीने के अंदर निपटाने को कहा गया है। साथ ही निष्पादित मामलों की कार्रवाई रिपोर्ट निर्धारित प्रपत्र में जमा करनी होगी। चेतावनी दी गई है कि भविष्य में सूचना संबंधी मामले लंबित पाए जाने पर दोषी अधिकारियों के विरुद्ध सख्त अनुशासनात्मक कार्रवाई की जाएगी। इधर डीएम के पत्र के आलोक में डीईओ ने सभी जिला कार्यक्रम पदाधिकारी, विद्यालय अवर निरीक्षक, बीईओ और सभी कोटि के एचएम को निर्देश जारी किए हैं।
किस मामले के बाद जारी हुआ आदेश? यह कड़ा कदम मनोज कुमार वर्मा, पिता स्वर्गीय. विशेश्वर प्रसाद, ग्राम अमवां, थाना बोधगया बनाम लोक सूचना अधिकारी-सह-प्रखंड विकास अधिकारी बोधगया से जुड़े मामले में राज्य सूचना आयोग, बिहार द्वारा दिए गए आदेश के आलोक में उठाया गया है। आयोग द्वारा 11 मई 2026 को पारित आदेश के तहत गया जिला पदाधिकारी को निर्देश दिया गया था कि वे अपने अधीनस्थ सभी अधिकारियों को लिखित में सख्त हिदायत जारी करें कि आरटीआई आवेदनों को अनावश्यक रूप से लंबित न रखा जाए।