‘Conviction rate in cases of crimes against SC/STs very low in T.N.’ : RTI

The Hindu: Madurai: Friday, 15 May 2026.
Officials in many districts, including Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli, have not responded to RTI queries regarding the number of crimes reported and the status of cases, says A. Kathir, executive director of Evidence

A. Kathir, executive director, Evidence

Atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Tamil Nadu had been continuously increasing and the new government, headed by C. Joseph Vijay, should give an assurance to the minorities and the downtrodden that law enforcement would be strict, said A. Kathir, executive director, Evidence, an NGO fighting for the rights of the downtrodden and the oppressed classes, here on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Kathir said Evidence had gathered information through the Right to Information (RTI) Act for the last 11 years from across Tamil Nadu with regard to crimes reported in police stations and the number of cases registered, charge-sheets filed and cases pending or disposed of by courts.
Compiling of the date began in February 2026. “The law says officials should give the information within 30 days” else they had to face punishment, he said.
He said officials in Kanniyakumari, Sivaganga, Cuddalore, Ranipet, Tiruchi, Kallakurichi, Kancheepuram, Salem, Karur, Dharmapuri, Tiruvarur, Tiruppur, Perambalur, Erode, Madurai, Nagapattinam, Ramanathapuram, Vellore, Ariyalur, Tiruvannamalai, Tirupattur, Pudukottai, The Nilgiris, Mayiladuthurai, Villupuram, Dindigul and Krishnagiri districts, Coimbatore, Salem, Tiruppur and Madurai cities, and Mylapore and Washermenpet in Chennai had responded.
Those in Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Tiruvallur, Namakkal, Tenkasi and Theni districts, Tiruchi city, and Kilpauk and T. Nagar in Chennai were yet to respond. In a few cases, Evidence had sent appeals and was awaiting response, Mr. Kathir said.
Several incidents
The date showed that 11,117 incidents had been reported in the last 11 years (2015 — 2025). It was shocking that accused in only 406 of these cases — a mere 3.6% — had been convicted.
Madurai district topped in the number the crimes against SC/STs with 1,322 cases reported and the accused in only 44 cases (3.32%) had been convicted. While Sivaganga district stood second with a conviction rate of 1.32%, in Salem the conviction rate was a negligible 0.56%. In Villupuram district, accused in 77 of the 709 cases (11%) had been punished. In Karur, the conviction rate was 7.36%.
Shockingly, Mr. Kathir said, there was not a single conviction in Mayiladuthurai district. There were over 100 cases pending in police stations. As per Supreme Court directions, the special courts should deliver judgment within three months of the date of filing chargesheets, which should have been completed within two months from the date of registration of cases.
Mr. Kathir said the new government should take it up with an iron hand, which alone would instil confidence among the SC/ST victims. It should give adequate protection to them and enhance the relief amount from ₹12 lakh to ₹25 lakh.
The government should declare Madurai, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Villupuram, Kallakurichi districts “atrocities-prone”. A senior-level IAS officer should be entrusted with overseeing the progress of the cases and police officers in the rank of Inspector General should be made responsible for monitoring the cases.
There were sufficient laws and amendments, the last being done in 2015. However, the crimes against SC/STs increased by 30-35% in Tamil Nadu in the meantime, he said.

Students’ right to access exam answer scripts under RTI affirmed by CA

Ceylon Daily News: Sri Lanka: Friday, 15 May 2026.
The judgment, delivered by Justice Dr. Sumudu Premachandra with Justice R. Gurusinghe agreeing, has been widely viewed as a major affirmation of transparency, accountability, and students’ rights within Sri Lanka’s higher education system.

A landmark judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal has significantly strengthened the rights of university students and examination candidates in Sri Lanka by affirming that examinees are entitled to obtain their scrutinised answer scripts under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
In a ruling delivered on May 8, the Court dismissed a revision application filed by the The Open University of Sri Lanka challenging an order of the Right to Information Commission directing the university to release the answer scripts and marks of a student who sat for the university’s LLB Selection Test.
The judgment, delivered by Justice Dr. Sumudu Premachandra with Justice R. Gurusinghe agreeing, has been widely viewed as a major affirmation of transparency, accountability, and students’ rights within Sri Lanka’s higher education system.
The case arose after R.A. Janaka Roshan Ranasinghe sought access to the answer scripts and marks of his daughter, R.A.D. Sashindya Ranasinghe, who sat for the Open University’s LLB entrance examination held in January 2023. The university initially refused the request, relying on Section 5(1)(l) of the RTI Act, which permits denial of information where disclosure would “harm the integrity of an examination.”
University authorities argued that releasing answer scripts and examination-related material could compromise confidentiality and undermine the integrity of future examinations.
However, the RTI Commission rejected that position and ordered the disclosure of the requested information. The university then sought to challenge that determination before the Court of Appeal. In a strongly worded judgment favouring transparency, the Court held that a student requesting access to his or her own answer script could not reasonably be denied such information.
Justice Premachandra observed: “There cannot be hide-and-seek games in higher institutions, and transparency is a paramount consideration.”
The Court emphasised that the RTI Act and Article 14A of the Constitution recognise access to information as a fundamental democratic value intended to promote accountability and good governance.
Importantly, the Court noted that if a standard marking scheme had been properly applied, disclosure should not threaten the integrity of the examination process.
RTI Overrides University By-Laws
A central issue in the case was whether university examination by-laws could prevent disclosure of answer scripts. The Court firmly rejected that argument, holding that Section 4 of the RTI Act gives the legislation overriding effect over inconsistent institutional regulations or by-laws.
The judgment stated that university rules “suppressing the RTI” had “no force in law” where they conflicted with the statutory right to information.
This aspect of the ruling may have broader implications for all State universities and public educational institutions that maintain restrictive policies regarding examination records.
The Court also drew extensively from Indian jurisprudence on students’ rights to access evaluated answer scripts.
Citing the Indian Supreme Court decision in CBSE v. Aditya Bandopadhyay (2011), the Court recognised that evaluated answer scripts constitute “information” under RTI laws because they contain the opinions and assessments of examiners.
The Sri Lankan Court endorsed the principle that: “Every examinee will have the right to access his evaluated answer-books.”
At the same time, the Court recognised that the identity of examiners could remain confidential in order to protect evaluative independence. The judgment also clarified that public authorities cannot issue blanket refusals under the RTI Act without demonstrating concrete and credible reasons.
The Court stressed that exemptions under Section 5(1)(l) are not absolute and must be interpreted narrowly. Merely claiming that disclosure could affect examination integrity was insufficient without factual justification.
There is no doubt this aspect of the ruling could influence future disputes involving public examinations, university admissions tests, and professional qualifying examinations. In addition to dismissing the university’s substantive arguments, the Court criticised the institution for invoking the Court’s revisionary jurisdiction instead of pursuing the statutory appeal mechanism provided under the RTI Act.
The judges observed that revisionary powers are discretionary and reserved only for exceptional circumstances involving grave injustice or manifest error.
Since the university had failed to show exceptional circumstances or explain why it had not pursued the ordinary appeal process, the Court declined to intervene.
Wider Significance
The ruling is likely to have far-reaching consequences for students across Sri Lanka seeking greater transparency in examination and admissions processes.
Legal observers note that the decision reinforces several important principles:

• Students have a legitimate right to know how their examination papers were evaluated.
• Public universities are subject to the RTI regime.
• Institutional secrecy cannot override constitutional transparency obligations.
• RTI exemptions relating to examinations must be narrowly interpreted.

The judgment also signals a growing judicial willingness to expand access to information rights within the education sector.
For thousands of students who annually sit competitive examinations for university admission, professional qualifications, and public sector recruitment, the ruling may become an important safeguard against opaque or arbitrary evaluation practices. As the country continues to strengthen its RTI framework nearly a decade after the enactment of the RTI Act in 2016, the Court of Appeal’s decision marks another significant milestone in the country’s evolving culture of transparency and accountability.

Forest dept targets officer for RTI disclosure amid illegal tree felling inquiry

The Times of India: National: Friday, 15 May 2026.
In a controversial move, top Rajasthan forest department officials have initiated proceedings against Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) and Public Information Officer (PIO) Gazanfar Ali Zaidi for sharing inquiry-related documents under the RTI Act in connection with an illegal tree-felling case in Bhilwara.

Sources said the disclosed documents later formed the basis of a court case, after which the National Green Tribunal directed recovery of about Rs 1.31 crore as environmental compensation from eight forest officials and a private individual.
Instead of fixing accountability and acting for the alleged illegal removal of Prosopis juliflora from nearly 250 hectares of forest land, officials are scrutinising the PIO, accusing him of violating provisions meant to protect ongoing investigations.
RTI activist Rajendra Tiwari said, “The department is targeting dutiful officials and shielding officers involved in illegal felling. At the time when the documents were sought, the preliminary report was already filed. Why do senior officials want to hide the information, and why is there a delay in action against the guilty officials?”
Official communications accessed by TOI show that the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force), Rajasthan, termed the disclosure “prima facie” contrary to provisions of Section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act, which exempts disclosure of information that may impede an ongoing investigation.
Subsequently, the Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) issued a show-cause notice to Zaidi asking why disciplinary action should not be initiated against him. A reminder notice was later issued after officials claimed that no reply had initially been received within the stipulated period.
CCF Ram Karan Khairwa told TOI, “A show-cause notice was issued regarding furnishing information under the RTI Act, 2005, without obtaining approval from the competent authority before forwarding information related to rules or policy decisions. Also, the information was provided when the inquiry was pending.”
A senior official, on the condition of anonymity, said, “The district in-charge who was appointed for the inquiry had already submitted the preliminary report.”
In his written response, Zaidi defended the decision, stating that information under the RTI Act is required to be furnished within 30 days and that the documents were provided in discharge of official duties. He further stated that the information was shared only after discussions with and directions from the then CCF, Jaipur, Rajeev Chaturvedi.
A source said, “Under the RTI Act, 2005, the PIO is independently empowered to provide information. In case of any dispute or objection regarding furnishing of information, the competent authority for resolution is the Information Commission.”

Balancing The Accountability

Daily Excelsior: J&K: Friday, 15 May 2026.

The Central Information Commission’s recent ruling in a case involving Jammu & Kashmir’s Directorate of School Education Kashmir offers a timely moment for reflection. At its heart, the judgment raises a question that democratic societies have long wrestled with: where does the right to know end, and where does the duty to govern begin? The Right to Information Act was conceived as a powerful corrective. It has, without doubt, served that purpose admirably. From exposing ghost beneficiaries in welfare schemes to unmasking fictitious employees on government payrolls, RTI has been the citizen’s most effective torch in the darkest corridors of power. To diminish its importance would be both dishonest and dangerous.
Yet the CIC’s caution against “indiscriminate and impractical” RTI demands deserves serious consideration. The application in question sought exhaustive data spanning six years – teacher shortages, infrastructure deficits, scholarship records, student-teacher ratios and budget utilisation across an entire division. Collating such information would have required a disproportionate diversion of administrative resources, leaving routine governance functions starved of attention. The Supreme Court’s oft-quoted warning – that the nation cannot afford for three-quarters of public staff to spend three-quarters of their time furnishing information – is not hyperbole. It is a practical reality that watchdog bodies must internalise. However, one must be equally vigilant about the other side of this coin. Departments have long mastered the art of hiding behind procedural complexity. “Information not readily available,” “data not compiled centrally,” and “disproportionate burden” are phrases that have shielded genuine negligence and deliberate opacity as comfortably as they have flagged legitimate operational concerns. Without firm benchmarks distinguishing the two, such defences risk becoming a bureaucratic escape hatch.
Herein lies the real challenge. There exist no codified, granular guidelines that empower the CIC or State Information Commissions to cleanly separate vexatious overreach from legitimate, sweeping public interest enquiries. Each case is adjudicated largely on discretion, leaving considerable room for inconsistency. What is needed is a structured framework – one that preserves RTI’s accountability mandate whilst establishing proportionality tests for voluminous requests. Commissioners ought to explore mechanisms such as phased information release, aggregated departmental disclosures, and proactive publication of commonly sought data, which would reduce the burden on both filer and institution. RTI is neither a weapon nor a burden. Used with precision, it remains democracy’s finest audit tool. The challenge is ensuring it stays sharp without becoming unwieldy. The line is thin but has to be distinguished.

213 IAS trainees reappeared in exams over ‘poor performance’ between 2020-‘26: RTI

The Times of India: Agra: Friday, 15 May 2026.
About 213 IAS officer trainees from multiple batches at Mussoorie-based Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) had to reappear for examinations during training between 2020 and 2026 due to “poor performance” in various assessments, according to data obtained under the RTI Act.

The data showed that 1,079 IAS officer trainees underwent training at the academy between Jan 1, 2020, and Jan 1, 2026. Also, it showed the number of IAS probationers enrolled annually remained largely stable over the six years, ranging between 182 and 187 trainees each year.
Among the cadres, AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and UTs) recorded the highest number of officer trainees who reappeared for examinations at 21, followed by TN with 18 and UP 16. It was followed by Bihar and WB at 15, MP with 14, Odisha 13, Maharashtra 12 and Gujarat 11, among others.
Regarding cheating cases and the use of unfair means during examinations at the academy, the academy stated that “no IAS probationer was found during the period under review”.
A serving chief development officer (CDO) told TOI: “An IAS officer’s training at LBSNAA is rigorous as it demands high levels of competence, adaptability and accountability. Training goes far beyond classroom academics and includes field exposure, district attachments, physical fitness, public administration, law, economics and governance-related assessments.”
“Reappearing in examinations should not necessarily be viewed negatively, as the academy continuously evaluates officer trainees on multiple parameters to ensure they are prepared for real-world administrative responsibilities,” said the CDO, who is an IAS officer.
She added that the fact that there were no reported cheating or unfair means cases reflects the professionalism and integrity maintained during the training process.
The IAS training programme at LBSNAA is a two-year induction process designed to transform civil service recruits into field-ready administrators via academic instruction, field exposure, and practical governance training.

TN information panel orders Pollachi panchayat union to pay fine over missing files : Rudhran Baraasu

The New Indian Express: Tamilnadu: Friday, 15 May 2026.
Invoking Section 19(8)(b) of the RTI Act, it directed the public authority to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to Muthumani within a week of receiving the order.

The state information commission has directed the Pollachi South panchayat union to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to an RTI applicant for misplacing files and failing to furnish documents sought under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
The order was passed while hearing an appeal filed by M Muthumani, who had sought information from the panchayat union office. In December 2025, state Information Commissioner R Priyakumar had directed the assistant director of the rural development department to submit a report on whether the information sought by the applicant had been provided.
When the matter came up for hearing on May 12, the present Public Information Officer (PIO) of the panchayat union, M Santhosam, appeared before the commission and submitted a report.
According to the report, former PIO Sakthivel and former appellate authority V Senthilkumar had furnished the information sought by the applicant within the stipulated time.
However, the supporting documents and registers connected to the information were allegedly misplaced during repeated office relocations. Rejecting the explanation, the commission observed that safeguarding records and ensuring their proper transfer during office relocation is a basic responsibility of every government office.
It strongly criticised the Pollachi South Panchayat Union for administrative negligence and poor record management. Invoking Section 19(8)(b) of the RTI Act, it directed the public authority to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to Muthumani within a week of receiving the order.
BASIC DUTY
The commission said safeguarding records and ensuring their transfer during office relocation is basic responsibility of every govt office.

अपनी ACR मांगने का कर्मचारी को अधिकार, निजता का हवाला देकर जानकारी नहीं रोक सकता राज्य: मध्य प्रदेश हाईकोर्ट

Live Law: National: Thursday, 14 May 2026.
मध्य प्रदेश हाईकोर्ट ने कहा कि कोई भी सरकारी कर्मचारी सूचना का अधिकार कानून के तहत अपनी वार्षिक गोपनीय प्रतिवेदन (ACR) की प्रतियां मांग सकता है और राज्य सरकार निजता का हवाला देकर ऐसी जानकारी देने से इनकार नहीं कर सकती।

जस्टिस दीपक खोत की पीठ ने कहा कि जब किसी कर्मचारी के पास जानकारी प्राप्त करने का कोई अन्य प्रभावी उपाय नहीं बचता, तब वह RTI कानून के तहत आवेदन करने के लिए बाध्य होता है। ऐसे मामलों में केवल इस आधार पर आवेदन खारिज नहीं किया जा सकता कि सार्वजनिक हित और निजता के बीच संतुलन को लेकर अलग से संतोष दर्ज नहीं किया गया।
अदालत ने कहा,
“सार्वजनिक हित की व्याख्या करते समय निजता के अधिकार और सूचना के अधिकार के बीच संतुलन बनाए रखना जरूरी है। दोनों अधिकार भारतीय संविधान की मूल संवैधानिक मूल्यों से उत्पन्न होते हैं।”
मामला उस याचिका से जुड़ा था, जिसमें राज्य सरकार ने मुख्य सूचना आयुक्त के उस आदेश को चुनौती दी थी, जिसके तहत एक सरकारी कर्मचारी को उसकी ACR उपलब्ध कराने का निर्देश दिया गया था।
राज्य सरकार का तर्क था कि मांगी गई जानकारी RTI कानून की धारा 8(1)(जे) के तहत निजी सूचना की श्रेणी में आती है, जिसका खुलासा करने से निजता का अनावश्यक उल्लंघन हो सकता है। सरकार ने कहा कि लोक सूचना अधिकारी और अपीलीय प्राधिकारी ने सही तरीके से आवेदन खारिज किया लेकिन राज्य सूचना आयुक्त ने गलत तरीके से जानकारी देने का आदेश दे दिया।
हाईकोर्ट ने राज्य सरकार की दलील खारिज करते हुए सुप्रीम कोर्ट के 'देव दत्त' मामले के फैसले का हवाला दिया। उस फैसले में कहा गया कि निष्पक्षता और प्रशासनिक पारदर्शिता बनाए रखने के लिए कर्मचारियों की एसीआर में की गई सभी प्रविष्टियों की जानकारी उन्हें उचित समय के भीतर दी जानी चाहिए।
सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने यह भी कहा था कि यदि कोई सरकारी आदेश एसीआर की जानकारी देने से रोकता है तो वह संविधान के अनुच्छेद 14 का उल्लंघन होगा।
हाईकोर्ट ने कहा कि मौजूदा मामले में कर्मचारी ने केवल अपनी ही एसीआर की जानकारी मांगी थी, इसलिए इसे निजता का उल्लंघन नहीं माना जा सकता।
अदालत ने यह भी स्पष्ट किया कि जब ACR सामान्य रूप से कर्मचारी को उपलब्ध नहीं कराई जाती, तब RTI कानून के तहत उसे मांगना ही एकमात्र उपाय रह जाता है।
इन्हीं टिप्पणियों के साथ हाईकोर्ट ने 1 दिसंबर 2009 के आदेश को सही ठहराते हुए राज्य सरकार की याचिका खारिज की।

12 years, 12 judges, 2 favourable orders, RTI applicant yet to get info

The Times of India: National: Thursday, 14 May 2026.
A dozen years have elapsed since an RTI application was filed seeking information on the former president of the Medical Council of India and nearly a decade since the Central Information Commission ruled that it must be provided. Yet, the applicant is still waiting for the information. The MCI filed an appeal against the CIC’s 2017 order in the Delhi High Court and after a dozen Justices have heard the case, the HC has ordered the National Medical Commission which succeeded the MCI to comply with the CIC’s ruling.

The HC has asked the NMC to supply the information sought on the status of medical registration of Dr Ketan Desai and details related to a corruption complaint against him. The NMC replaced the disbanded MCI in September 2020 and like its predecessor it opposed giving the information. It argued that the RTI applicant Dr Kunal Saha, a patient rights activist, would have to apply afresh. However, the HC held that this “cannot be accepted” and pointed out that NMC had succeeded the MCI as explicitly stated in the NMC Act 2019.
In the last hearing on April 29, 2026 the HC ordered: “Prima facie, the Court finds that the nature of the information sought by the respondent(s) should be supplied and the same is necessary in order to maintain the transparency and fairness.” NMC’s counsel sought time to make his submissions. The next hearing is on May 19.
The RTI application seeking information on Dr Desai had been filed in October 2015 by the organisation People for Better Treatment (PBT) seeking all documents including the status of an October 2010 complaint against Dr Desai by Dr Saha, president of PBT. On not receiving the information sought, Dr Saha approached the CIC. After hearing both the parties, in January 2017, the CIC ruled in favour of Dr Saha and directed the MCI to furnish the status of the complaint including the status of suspension of the medical registration of Dr Desai. The commission also directed that the minutes of the ethics committee meetings, agenda of meetings etc sought by Dr Saha should be made available for file inspection. The commission noted that the MCI had agreed to furnish information about the payments made to individual lawyers annually since 2010. All the information was to be made available within three weeks of the order.
The long wait

• Oct 2015 – RTI application filed
• January 2017 – CIC orders MCI to supply the information sought, MCI appeals in Delhi HC
• Feb 22, 2017- Interim stay on CIC order (Justice Sanjeev Sachdev)
• Aug 2, 2017- HC orders listing on Aug 25, 2017 (Justice Vibhu Bakhru)
• Aug 25, 2017- No time left
• Sep 1, 2017- Dr Saha files application to be present by video conferencing. Not feasible, application dismissed
• Apr 20, 2018- Counsel for Dr Saha seeks further three weeks to file the counter affidavit, rejoinder to that to be filed before next date of hearing (Justice Rajiv Shakdher)
• Nov 19, 2018- Last opportunity to Dr Saha to file counter affidavit within two weeks and rejoinder to that to be filed within the two weeks after that (Justice Suresh Kumar Kait)
• Mar 13, 2019 - Adjournment slip (Justice V Kameswar Rao)
• Aug 19, 2019- too late to take it up
• Mar 5, 2020- adjournment slip filed (Justice Jayant Nath)
• Mar 22, 2022-due to paucity of time matter not heard (Justice Yashwant Varma)
• Sep 19, 2022-NMC counsel sought time to transpose NMC as party petitioner and to obtain instructions
• Jan 25, 2023- subject to chief justice’s order, matter to be listed before another bench (Justice Pratibha M Singh)
• Feb 17, 2023- new single bench (Justice Mini Pushkarna)
• Apr 6, 2023- judge on leave
• Jul 21, 2023- NMC files application seeking substitution as petitioner as Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 has been repealed. Saha and PBT seek a last opportunity to file reply within two weeks. Rejoinder to reply to be filed within a week after that. (Justice Subramonium Prasad)
• Oct 12, 2023- Pass-over sought in first round, too late to take it up in the second round
• Feb 21, 2024- Too late to take it up
• Jul 10, 2024- too late to take it up (Justice Sanjeev Narula)
• Oct 24, 2024- Admitted, List in due course
• Jan 5, 2026- NMC counsel requests to place on record submissions and relevant decisions as to why the information directed cannot be supplied (Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav)
• Feb 23, 2026- matter listed for Apr 29, 2026
• Apr 29, 2026 – NMC ordered to supply information to PBT

Mohali Tehsildar fined Rs 15,000 for not giving info under RTI Act : Gaurav Kanthwal

The Tribune: Mohali: Thursday, 14 May 2026.
The Punjab State Information Commission has slapped a penalty of Rs 15,000 on Mohali Tehsildar Sumeet Dhillon, respondent PIO in a case, for not providing information to a Sector 76 resident under the RTI Act.

According to appellant HS Hundal, a Sector 76 resident, the respondent had not allowed him the inspection of record in a case in which the authority had passed orders earlier. Since the respondent was not present, an opportunity was given to him to appear before the commission and state his case. However, on September 16, 2025, the respondent was again absent, hence Rs 1,000 in compensation was awarded to the appellant and a show-cause notice issued to the respondent-PIO.
On the next date of hearing on November 27, 2025, the respondent was again absent, after which bailable warrants were issued against him through the Mohali SSP.
On the next date of hearing on February 12, 2026, Dhillon appeared before the commission. The inspection rights were given to the appellant and the case was adjourned to May 5.
The appellant stated that the respondent had not facilitated for the inspection of record again and he was again not present during hearing. A perusal of the case file shows that the respondent-PIO has failed to comply with the directions of the commission. The respondent’s non-response indicates a clear lack of interest in pursuing this matter, which reflects disrespect, observed the commission.
The Drawing and Disbursing Officer of the office of Tehsildar, Mohali, was directed to deduct Rs 15,000 from his salary and deposit it in the State Treasury.

Kalaburagi Officials Penalised for Failing to Provide RTI Information, Skipping Hearings

Deccan Chronicle: Kalaburagi: Thursday, 14 May 2026.
State Information Commissioner B Venkata Singh said the penalties were imposed during hearings held in April after several officials failed to furnish information on time, ignored notices issued by the Commission and did not appear for proceedings.

State Information Commissioner B Venkata Singh 

The Kalaburagi Bench of the State Information Commission has imposed fines totalling Rs 1.5 lakh on several government officials, including Kalaburagi Zilla Panchayat Deputy Secretary, Gangavathi PWD Assistant Executive Engineer and Raichur Grade-2 Tahsildar, for failing to provide information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and remaining absent during hearings.
State Information Commissioner B Venkat Singh said the penalties were imposed during hearings held in April after several officials failed to furnish information on time, ignored notices issued by the Commission and did not appear for proceedings.
Among the officials fined, Gangavathi PWD Assistant Executive Engineer Devanna Katti was fined Rs 15,000, while Kalaburagi Zilla Panchayat Deputy Secretary Lakshman Shringeri was fined Rs 10,000 and Raichur Grade-2 Tahsildar Parashuram Rs 5,000. Penalties ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000 were also imposed on several PDOs and gram panchayat secretaries from Raichur, Yadgir, Koppal, Kalaburagi and Ballari districts.
The officials penalised include Mallikarjun, secretary of Hullur gram panchayat in Jewargi taluk, Raghunath, PDO of Aaroli gram panchayat in Manvi taluk, Yankanagouda, secretary of Tadibidi gram panchayat in Vadagera taluk, Vedang, secretary of Hagaraga gram panchayat in Kalaburagi taluk, and Galibasab, secretary of Rama Samudra gram panchayat in Yadgir taluk, who were fined Rs 5,000 each.
Rajkumar Subedar, secretary of Aldal gram panchayat in Surpur taluk, Bhimrao, PDO of Munnalli gram panchayat, Madivalappa, secretary of Naganur gram panchayat in Surpur taluk, Sidram, PDO of Gogi K gram panchayat in Shahpur taluk, Kallappa, secretary of Hosadaroji gram panchayat in Sandur taluk, Mudukanna, PDO of Saidapur gram panchayat in Yadgir taluk, Jyoti Redder, secretary of Siddapur gram panchayat in Karatagi taluk, and Bhimanna, secretary of Paidoddi gram panchayat in Lingsugur taluk were fined Rs 10,000 each, while Jagadish, PDO of Yalasangi gram panchayat in Aland taluk, was fined Rs 15,000.
The Commissioner said the Commission had taken up 564 cases for hearing in April and disposed of 229 of them. Since he assumed office, the Commission had handled 3,084 cases and disposed of 1,308 cases during 88 days of hearings.
To create awareness among officials and speed up disposal of RTI-related cases, workshops on the RTI Act have already been conducted in Ballari, Bidar, Kalaburagi and Koppal. Another workshop has been scheduled in Vijayanagar district on May 30, he added.

No time limit for trademark applications disposal: Patent office tells CIC

ET Legal World: Mumbai: Thursday, 14 May 2026.
The observation came during the hearing of an RTI appeal before Information Commissioner Khushwant Singh Sethi concerning alleged delays and procedural irregularities in trademark opposition matters.

The office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks has informed the Central Information Commission (CIC) that there is no specific time limit prescribed for disposing trademark applications and no standard operating procedure (SOP) with timelines exists for the process.
The observation came during the hearing of an RTI appeal before Information Commissioner Khushwant Singh Sethi concerning alleged delays and procedural irregularities in trademark opposition matters.
According to the CIC order, the appellant alleged that despite filing a counter-statement within the stipulated period, his matter was not processed for over 10 months, while other opposition matters were heard and notified earlier.
During the hearing, the respondent submitted that the office receives a large number of applications and "there is no specific time limit prescribed for disposing trademark applications".
The respondent further stated that "there is no SOP with timelines in this regard".
The RTI application had sought information, including average disposal time for intimating counter-statements in trademark opposition matters, reasons for delay in notifying a counter-statement, file movement details and whether any internal inquiry was conducted regarding alleged procedural lapses.
The Commission observed that the respondent had not given an appropriate reply on certain points raised in the RTI application.
It directed the respondent authority to provide a revised reply, including the average disposal time for the previous six months relating to the period when the appellant's application was pending.
The CIC also directed the respondent to provide relevant e-file records and note sheets after redacting third-party information under Section 10 of the RTI Act.
Additionally, the authority was asked to file an affidavit stating that no information was available regarding the sought notings and file movement details related to the trademark opposition matters mentioned in the RTI plea.

RTI : Parliament panel’s red flag: National Sports Development Fund is shrinking, use it responsibly - Written by: Mihir Vasavda

The Indian Express: Mumbai: Thursday, 14 May 2026.
What’s really worrying, the panel said, was that while the private sector has largely kept its distance from the Government-led initiative, even Public Sector Undertakings are pulling back now.

General view of the New Moti Bagh clubhouse

Contributions to the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) have more than halved in three years from Rs 85.26 crore in 2023-24 to Rs 37.02 crore in 2025-26, records obtained by The Indian Express under the Right to Information (RTI) Act show.
The slide prompted a Parliamentary panel to raise the red flag last August, linking the decline to waning corporate faith in the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and a growing preference among donors for privately run sports organisations.

The tennis court at New Moti Bagh clubhouse

What’s really worrying, the panel said, was that while the private sector has largely kept its distance from the Government-led initiative, even Public Sector Undertakings are pulling back now.
The numbers spell out the trend (see chart):

• In 2023-24, ten government-backed institutions donated approximately Rs 84.79 crore of the Rs 85.26 crore the NSDF received that year. Coal India alone contributed Rs 47.85 crore.
• By 2024-25, the number of contributing PSUs had dropped to six, accounting for roughly Rs 69.89 crore of a total Rs 70.16 crore.
• In 2025-26, the six PSUs remained but the total contributions fell to Rs 37.02 crore, of which they provided Rs 34.79 crore.

The private sector, in each of these years, was nearly absent. The fund’s shrinking base makes the diversions investigated by The Indian Express harder to defend. As the money coming in dips, the share being spent on bureaucrats’ colonies and civil services clubs, which have nothing to do with competitive sport, grows more difficult to justify.
The Parliamentary standing committee that examined the fund’s finances found a telling illustration of the problem.

This temperature-controlled swimming pool at the New Moti Bagh clubhouse in New Delhi is one of the sports facilities funded by a Rs 2.2-crore NSDF grant in 2024. (Photo: Mihir Vasavda)

During depositions, Sports Ministry officials acknowledged that while SAI’s centre in Bengaluru received CSR funding of Rs 5 crore, a private badminton academy in the same city received Rs 25 crore. “The Committee is constrained to observe that corporates are showing more faith and inclination towards funding a privately run sports body than SAI,” the report, tabled in the Lok Sabha in August 2025, noted.
The 31-member all-party panel, chaired by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh and including BJP MPs such as Ravi Shankar Prasad and Sambit Patra, recommended that the Government take up the matter with the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Corporate Affairs “so that suitable amendments be effected in CSR rules/ regulations in such manner that Government Institutions may be equal beneficiary of the CSR funding in the area of sports”.
Its conclusion: “…these CSR funds should strictly be utilised in the development of sports infrastructure, coaching, etc.”

RTI Reveals Rs 83,876 Crore in Unclaimed Bank Deposits Across India

Nagpur Today: Nagpur: Wednesday, 13 May 2026.

An RTI application filed by Nagpur-based activist Abhay Kolarkar has revealed staggering figures related to unclaimed bank deposits, fraud complaints and banking grievances across the country, once again drawing attention to the growing pile of idle money lying unclaimed in the banking system.
According to the reply provided under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by the Reserve Bank of India, unclaimed deposits held with banks under RBI jurisdiction stood at a massive Rs 83,876.57 crore as of March 31, 2026.
The information was sought by Abhay Kolarkar, who had filed an RTI application seeking details regarding unclaimed deposits, fraud cases and complaints against banks during the financial years 2023-24 to 2025-26.
In its response, RBI stated that during the period from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026, banks returned unclaimed deposits worth Rs 5,043.16 crore, including interest, to depositors through the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund mechanism.
However, the central bank clarified that customer-wise and account-wise details of unclaimed deposits are not maintained by RBI.
The RTI response further disclosed that thousands of complaints against banks continue to pour into RBI Ombudsman offices. The banking regulator stated that annual complaint figures are available in the Ombudsman Annual Reports published on the RBI website.
Another significant revelation in the RTI pertains to cyber fraud and banking fraud cases. RBI informed the applicant that bank-wise fraud data reported by commercial banks has been provided in annexures based on the date of reporting. However, detailed consolidated data regarding complaints against cooperative banks was not furnished.
The RBI stated that during the financial year 2025-26, a total of 4,191 complaints against cooperative banks were received by RBI Ombudsman offices. However, it declined to provide
bank-wise compiled information, stating that such data is not maintained in a consolidated format and compiling it would disproportionately divert the institution’s resources under provisions of the RTI Act.
The disclosures have once again raised concerns over the enormous volume of unclaimed money lying in banks and the increasing number of fraud-related complaints in the banking sector. Financial experts believe many depositors and legal heirs remain unaware of dormant accounts, matured deposits and forgotten savings, leading to large sums remaining untouched for years.
The RTI reply has also sparked debate over whether banks and financial institutions are doing enough to proactively trace rightful account holders and spread awareness regarding unclaimed deposits and cyber fraud prevention.

Vijay’s OSD under scanner: Social activist seeks details under RTI Act about qualification of Pandit Vettrivel and why he is appointed to CM office : By Shastry V Mallady

Lotus Times: Madurai: Wednesday, 13 May 2026.

Gajendra Babu, general secretary, State Platform for Common School System Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN), 

The appointment of Mr. Rickey Radhan Pandit Vettrivel who was appointed to the post of Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Mr.C.Joseph Vijay has come under spotlight as an RTI application has been filed seeking details about the OSD credentials.
Social activist and education justice campaigner Mr.P.B.Prince Gajendra Babu had filed an application under the Right to Information Act (RTI) on May 12th 2026 seeking information under section 6 of the RTI Act.
He sought a copy of the Chief Minister’s Office Note dated May 12th 2026 with regard to the office proceedings No.675 and the RTI applicant also asked for information about the functions of Officer on Special Duty to the Chief Minister (Political).
“What is prescribed qualification for appointment to the post of OSD to the Chief Minister (political) and on what consideration was Thiru.Rickey Radhan Pandit Vettrivel chosen for appointment to the post of OSD to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister (Political)?”, the RTI application query which was filed in prescribed format by Mr.P.B.Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, State Platform for Common School System-Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN), from T.Nagar in Chennai, on May 12th 2026 has asked.
The RTI application was given to The Public Information Officer, Public (Estt.IV) Department Secretariat, Government of Tamil Nadu in Chennai-9 yesterday.

A man, a law, and 20,000 questions the State did not want answered : Muhammad Tahir

Frontline Magazine: Article: Wednesday, 13 May 2026.
For over 18 years, Saleem Baig has used the RTI Act to prise open files in every State. The reply has been jail, false cases, and a life in hiding—and a new amendment may soon make his work impossible.

Several queries of RTI activist Saleem Baige have forced authorities to reverse decisions, and have led to action against errant officials. | Photo Credit: Facebook

Saleem Baig lives on the third floor of a cramped 2BHK flat in a congested pocket of New Delhi, with his wife and three sons. He pays Rs.15,000 a month in rent. He keeps to himself, barely knows his neighbours, and does not list this address on the documents he files. Every few weeks—sometimes two or three times in a month—he travels to Moradabad to sit through court hearings in cases the police filed against him nearly two decades ago.
Baig, 58, is what India’s bureaucracy and its critics both call an “RTI man”. Since the Right to Information Act came into force in October 2005, he says he has filed roughly 20,000 applications across nearly every State and Union Territory, and with the Prime Minister’s Office. Several of his queries have forced authorities to reverse decisions, and have led to action against errant officials.
The price has been high and heavy. He has been jailed in what the courts have since found to be fabricated cases, gone underground for stretches totalling two and a half years, sold the family’s belongings and his wife’s jewellery, shut down the brass business that supported them, watched his children pulled out of school, and abandoned his hometown. He now lives, by his own description, as a private and secret man.
“I have been harassed for asking RTI questions—by the police, by local politicians, by anti-social elements,” Baig said. “I have been underground, jailed in a fake case, and changed living places many times because of arrest, fear and threats.”
The RTI Act, passed by Parliament in 2005, lays down rules and procedures for citizens seeking government information. It mandates timely responses, allows inspection of records and the supply of certified copies, and applies to every public authority funded by taxpayers. For nearly two decades, it has been used by farmers, slum-dwellers, journalists and activists to extract everything from ration entitlements to information on public works.
Baig is from Bhojpur, a village 20 km from Moradabad in western Uttar Pradesh, about 180 km from the national capital. He holds a master’s degree in Urdu (1990) from M.J.P. Ruhelkhand University and a certificate course in human rights from the Indira Gandhi National Open University. In 2007, he contested the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election from Moradabad Rural on a National Loktantrik Party ticket. He lost, and went back to filing RTIs.
His two-storey house in Bhojpur now stands abandoned. Rain has damaged the roof. A neighbour recently asked him to repair it. “I don’t have the money,” Baig said, scrolling through a video of the ruined building on his phone. “How can I repair it?”
His brass business in Moradabad—India’s “Peetal Nagri”, which accounts for the bulk of the country’s brassware exports—was wound up after his arrest in 2008 and the long underground period that followed. A Hindi fortnightly he founded the same year, Nature Watch, was meant to publish his RTI replies in their original form, free of editorial trimming. “Sometimes journalists also modify news in their own sense,” he said. He refused outside funding, fearing it would compromise his work, and the paper closed in 2016 after two earlier suspensions. He says he still has the title and the RNI number, and hopes to revive it.
The application that changed everything
Baig began filing RTIs soon after the law came into force. The trouble started in February 2007, when he filed an application at the local Moradabad police station seeking caste-wise data on police recruitment in his area. He suspected the selection process had been rigged.
According to Baig, the police did not provide the information and instead asked him to deposit Rs.58,000 to retrieve it. He challenged the demand before the Uttar Pradesh State Information Commission. The commission, he says, found irregularities in the recruitment process, imposed a fine of Rs.25,000 on Superintendent of Police Moradabad (rural) Kush har Saurabh and SSP Prem Prakash, and directed that the information be furnished.
When the police still did not comply, the State Information Commissioner ordered that Rs.6,000 in compensation be deducted from the SSP’s salary and paid to Baig. “First they asked me to come to the police station to collect it,” he said. “When I refused, they posted a cheque. But they still did not give me the full information I had asked for.”
That order, in his telling, marked him out. Soon, relatives, police officers, local politicians and middlemen began pressuring him to withdraw the case. He says he was attacked two or three times and escaped narrowly. He informed the Commission of the threats and refused to step back.
In June 2008, he was arrested in Moradabad on charges of theft and extortion. He spent 18 days in jail before being released. A second First Information Report was filed against him almost immediately. “They were all bogus cases,” Baig said. “One has since been quashed by the court. In another, the man who was supposed to be the complainant told the court he had never met me before that hearing, and that he had been forced by the police to file the case. Before my RTI work, there was not a single case against me or my family.”
He went underground three times over the next two and a half years, moving between Lucknow and other towns. His lawyer, he says, warned him that the police were considering invoking the National Security Act—a 1980 preventive-detention law that allows the State to hold a person without trial for up to 12 months on grounds of “public order” or “national security”, and which civil-liberties groups have repeatedly criticised for its use against activists, journalists and political opponents.
During this period, he says, the police circulated word that anyone who helped him would also face cases. Friends drifted away. Only his family stayed.

RTI activist Saleem Baig. | Photo Credit: Facebook

Even underground, Baig kept filing. His applications, by his account, exposed irregularities in the Indira Awas Yojana in parts of Uttar Pradesh, where only six of 53 sanctioned houses had been allotted in one cluster; gaps in the Prime Minister’s 15-Point Programme for Minorities, which he found was not functioning in several districts; minority-welfare budgets in 21 UP districts that had lapsed unspent; and what he describes as irregularities in Waqf Board accounts and a Unani medical college.
His queries also covered the maintenance of the Taj Mahal, RBI loans, UGC-aided colleges, the authorship of PMO press releases, his own salary, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and custodial deaths. A Public Interest Litigation he filed, Saleem Baig Vs. State Of U.P., he says, led to a court setting aside a decision of the Mayawati government which outed “vigilance information” from RTI in Uttar Pradesh.
The cases against Baig followed his family through every government office. Routine paperwork—school certificates, block-level documentation, files moving from local councils to the Centre—slowed or stopped. Local councillors and officers, he says, treated him as a marked man because his queries about roads, sanitation and welfare schemes embarrassed them.
“My income had dried up,” he said. “Expenses kept rising—travel, lawyers’ fees. We had already sold our belongings. My wife sold her jewellery. My children’s schooling stopped for two years. Other children would ask them, ‘Why does the police come to your house? Your father is bad.’ So I shifted them to my father-in-law’s home.”
“My younger son used to ask his mother, ‘Ammi, why does the police come again and again?’” Baig said. “When my wife told me on the phone that he was asking, ‘Ammi, hum school kab jayenge’—when will we go to school—my heart used to tremble.”
Admissions and certificates required the help of a local MLA or MP. “I was already on their target,” he said. “I could not approach any of them.”
A weakening law
Baig says the squeeze on RTI applicants has tightened in the last four or five years. Information that once arrived in 30 days, he says, now does not arrive at all, or arrives so heavily redacted as to be useless.
“I now get calls from the PMO, from the Minority Affairs Ministry, from other institutions, asking me, ‘Who are you? Why do you want to know this?’” he said. “Under the RTI Act, no one is allowed to ask me that. The State Information Commission in Uttar Pradesh has all but collapsed. It is failing to deliver justice.”

His larger fear is the change to the law itself. Section 44(3) of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, amends Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act to exempt all “personal information” from disclosure, removing the public-interest override that was previously available. Civil society groups, former Information Commissioners and more than 120 opposition MPs have written to the government demanding a rollback, arguing that the change creates a blanket privacy shield that public officials and politicians can hide behind.

“After this amendment, getting information will be almost impossible,” Baig said.

“Already, the Act has been weakening. The government does not want corruption to stop—it is sheltering it. Right now, officers are afraid of RTI.

At a protest against changes to the RTI Act at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, on July 29, 2019. | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

More than 30 organisations—including the Internet Freedom Foundation, the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Satark Nagrik Sangathan and Common Cause—have demanded that the amendment be withdrawn.

There were brief reprieves. Between 2011 and 2014, the Dalit Foundation gave him a fellowship of Rs.7,000 a month to document atrocities against Dalits and minorities. From 2012, ActionAid India supported him with Rs.15,000 a month for six years, and later took him on as a staff member until December 2022. “That support kept us alive,” Baig said.
The Delhi Minority Commission has given him a lifetime achievement award. He served on a fact-finding team that documented the February 2020 Delhi violence. Civil society groups have invited him to train new RTI applicants.
That income has now also dried up. The pandemic ended his training assignments and pushed him into debt. The proposed amendment has further reduced demand. He survives on his eldest son’s salary.
A risk that does not appear in any contract
The work has long carried a physical cost. According to data compiled by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), over 100 RTI applicants have been killed since 2006, while 180 have been assaulted and 187 threatened. CHRI estimates that, on average, 28 RTI users have been threatened, assaulted or killed every year since the Act came into force.
Baig says no government, Central or State, has shown any sustained interest in the safety of RTI applicants. “By filing RTI, we are helping the State be aware of its own policies,” he said. “But RTI activists are being killed in this country, and no government, no officer, is concerned about their safety.”
His current docket includes applications on the Waqf Board and on properties classified as “enemy property” under the Enemy Property Act. “I will keep filing RTIs as long as the Act exists,” Baig said. “Before the RTI, I used to file PILs, but those take much longer. The RTI is faster. Through it, files that have been invisible for years become visible.”
“We vote once in five years,” he said. “We can file an RTI every day. As a citizen, I feel honoured when I am the one asking the question of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister. I want to ask people to use this Act. It gives us an ehsas—a feeling—of our freedom, of being alive.”
Muhammad Tahir is a Delhi-based journalist. He has worked various media organisations including The Caravan, Newslaundry. He writes on several issues and mainly focuses on human rights, minority and marginalised societies issues.