All posts tagged: RTI Act

BCCI doesn’t fall under the ambit of RTI, says CIC

BCCI doesn’t fall under the ambit of RTI, says CIC

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) does not fall under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Central Information Commission said on Monday. This development came after the Madras High Court had “remitted back” the issue to CIC in September 2025 after the BCCI had filed an appeal against the CIC, for a 2018 order which identified the federation as the public authority under the RTI Act. The recent order by Information Commissioner PR Ramesh maintained that since the Government has no real control over the functioning of BCCI and since the cricketing body is governed by its own rules and regulations, it can’t fall under the ambit of RTI. “The BCCI generates its revenue independently through commercial activities like media rights, sponsorships, and ticket sales. It is financially self-sustaining and does not rely on government funds. Therefore, it cannot be said to be substantially financed by the state,” said Ramesh. The order noted that BCCI is a body registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act. “BCCI is …

CIC rules BCCI outside RTI ambit, reverses 2018 order | Cricket News

CIC rules BCCI outside RTI ambit, reverses 2018 order | Cricket News

3 min readMay 18, 2026 07:30 PM IST The Central Information Commission has ruled that the Board of Control for Cricket in India does not qualify as a “public authority” under the Right to Information Act, effectively keeping the world’s richest cricket board beyond the reach of transparency laws that apply to government bodies. The order, passed by Information Commissioner P R Ramesh, reverses a 2018 ruling by then-commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu, who had held that the BCCI was a public authority and directed it to set up mechanisms for receiving RTI applications. The BCCI challenged that order in the Madras High Court, which sent the matter back to the CIC for a fresh look in September 2025. The fresh look has now gone in the BCCI’s favour. The Commission found that the BCCI is a private society registered under Tamil Nadu law, not created by Parliament or any state legislature, and not subject to government control in any meaningful way. The government plays no role in appointing its office-bearers or running its affairs. The …

Advocates cannot seek information under RTI Act for clients’ cases: CIC

Advocates cannot seek information under RTI Act for clients’ cases: CIC

A view of the Central Information Commission building set up under the Right to Information Act 2005. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto The Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that advocates cannot use the Right to Information (RTI) Act to seek details regarding cases they are handling for clients, observing that using the transparency law in this manner fails to advance its core objectives. Dismissing a second appeal filed by an advocate in a dispute related to the termination of a fruits-and-vegetables supply contract at a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Haryana, Information Commissioner Sudha Rani Relangi noted that the appellant had sought information “on behalf of his brother, who used to be supplier of vegetables/fruits to the respondent public authority”. The commission said in the absence of any explanation as to why the supplier himself could not seek the information, “it appears that the appellant has sought information on behalf of his client per se, which is not permissible”. Quoting a Madras High Court order, the CIC underlined that “a practising advocate cannot seek information …

Denial of limestone export data to Bangladesh justified; no larger public interest: CIC| India News

Denial of limestone export data to Bangladesh justified; no larger public interest: CIC| India News

New Delhi, The Central Information Commission has upheld the denial of exporter-wise details of limestone sold to Bangladesh from Meghalaya, noting that the data attracts exemption under the commercial confidence clause. Denial of limestone export data to Bangladesh justified; no larger public interest: CIC It said such information could potentially harm the competitive position of the exporters concerned. The transparency panel also noted that there was no larger public interest involved, which could override Section 8 of the RTI Act, which exempts disclosure of information that could harm the competitive position of third parties. RTI applicant W Mathew Mawdkhap had sought “the name and address of the exporters who exported limestone to Bangladesh through Bholaganj Land Customs Station, E Khasi Hills, during the financial year 2023-24” from the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Shillong Customs Division, which was denied, citing Section 8 of the RTI Act. His first appeal was also dismissed, following which he approached the Central Information Commission with his second appeal and challenged the first two orders. Dismissing his appeal, Information Commissioner …

Number of non-functional CCTV cameras negligible, no blind spot: DMRC says women safety survey has ‘misleading’ figures | Delhi News

Number of non-functional CCTV cameras negligible, no blind spot: DMRC says women safety survey has ‘misleading’ figures | Delhi News

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has clarified that even when some CCTV cameras inside its trains are under maintenance, the covered area mostly does not have any blind spot, with other cameras working. The DMRC issued the clarification in response to a study based on data obtained under RTI Act that stated that 300-500 CCTV cameras inside Delhi Metro trains were found to be non-functional every year between 2020 and 2024. “Even in the case of such CCTVs under maintenance, the area mostly remains free from any blind spot due to wide coverage available through adjacent CCTVs. This is due to efficacy of this robust mechanism that no major cases of any untowardly incident have been reported in all these years,” DMRC said. The spokesperson for the DMRC said that “misleading inferences” were drawn by the study, the findings of which were reported by The Indian Express. “… it (300-500) is an annual figure — which means on any given day, the number of CCTVs under maintenance are just one or two from a …

Knowledge Nugget: Why is Right to information Act important for UPSC? | UPSC Current Affairs News

Knowledge Nugget: Why is Right to information Act important for UPSC? | UPSC Current Affairs News

Take a look at the essential concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here’s your knowledge nugget for today. (Relevance: Questions have been asked on the RTI Act and the judgment of the Supreme Court on Right to Privacy. As the discussion around the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA) has intensified as it is going to be implemented soon, it becomes important to know about the whole debate around DPDPA and the RTI Act.) Why in the news? Recently, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi has called the Digital Personal Data Protection Act “draconian” and said, “The DPDP Act keeps all personal information out. In this new provision, you won’t be able to know under RTI which contractor built bridges in Bihar that collapsed.” Opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, K C Venugopal and John Brittas had also written to Vaishnaw to repeal Section 44 (3) of the Act, as it “amends the Right to Information”.  Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said, “You are taking RTI towards ‘road to …

Special Branch manual contains confidential info, can’t be disclosed under RTI Act: Delhi HC

Special Branch manual contains confidential info, can’t be disclosed under RTI Act: Delhi HC

 Delhi High Court said sensitive and confidential information, cannot be brought into public domain under the RTI Act. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Delhi High Court has held that details of the Special Branch manual, which contains sensitive and confidential information, cannot be brought into public domain under the Right To Information (RTI) Act. The High Court said disclosing such information will not only compromise the functioning of the Special Branch of Delhi Police, but could also jeopardise ongoing and future investigations, adding that it falls within the scope of ‘exempted information’ under the RTI Act. Justice Sanjeev Narula dismissed a petition seeking to provide under RTI the certified copy of the complete Special Branch manual with all annexures/latest rulings/notifications on passport verification as on February 3, 2016. “In the opinion of the court, the details contained in the Special Branch Manual, by virtue of their confidential nature, cannot be brought into public domain.” “Such procedures, while operational in nature, may also reveal tactical insights into how law enforcement agencies function in sensitive …

Sebi refuses to disclose instances when Madhabi Puri Buch recused on conflict of interest: Report

The cases where SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch recused herself due to potential conflict of interest is not “readily” available and collating them would “disproportionately divert” its resources, the securities market regulator said in an RTI response on Friday. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch speaks during the Annual Capital Markets Conference 2024, in Mumbai, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024.(Shashank Parade/PTI) In the response furnished to transparency activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd), the regulator also refused to provide copies of Buch’s declarations to the government and SEBI Board on the financial assets and equities held by her and her family members on the grounds of these being “personal information” and that their disclosure may “endanger” personal safety. Also Read: Qualcomm may take over struggling rival Intel in the biggest tech M&A deal ever: Report It also denied to disclose the dates on which the disclosures were made. The SEBI Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) used the grounds of “personal information” and “safety” to deny copy of those declarations. “Since the information …

NGT takes cognisance of Indian Express report, seeks replies from BMC CPCB and MPCB | Mumbai News

Observing that it ‘raises substantial issue of compliance of environmental norms,’ the National Green Tribunal recently took a suo motu cognisance of the Indian Express Investigation report titled ‘Mumbai lost over 21,000 trees in 6 years to make way for Metro, road projects’ published last month. The panel issued notices to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board (MPCB) through their respective member secretaries, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (HoFF), Maharashtra, Commissioner of Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Mumbai district collector and added them as respondents in the plea. A quorum of Justices Prakash Shrivastava (chairperson), Arun Kumar Tyagi (Judicial member) and Afroz Ahmad- expert member in an order passed on April 16 referred to a report published on March 26 in the Indian Express, which, stated that Mumbai has witnessed felling of at least 21,028 trees over the past six years, according to data provided by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to The Indian Express under the RTI Act. The NGT noted that the report relates to the ‘fast depleting urban …

SBI refuses to disclose electoral bonds’ details under RTI Act

The State Bank of India (SBI) has refused to disclose under the Right to Information (RTI) Act the details of the electoral bonds furnished to the Election Commission (EC) of India, claiming that it is personal information held in a fiduciary capacity, even though the records are in the public domain on the poll panel’s website. Holding that the electoral bonds scheme was “unconstitutional and manifestly arbitrary”, the Supreme Court directed the SBI on February 15 to furnish the complete details of the bonds purchased since April 12, 2019 to the EC, which would publish the information on its website by March 13. Also read: Electoral bonds | Biggest beneficiaries claim inability to reveal donor names On March 11, the court dismissed the SBI’s petition seeking an extension of the deadline and ordered it to disclose the details of the electoral bonds to the EC by the close of business hours on March 12. RTI activist Commodore (retired) Lokesh Batra approached the SBI on March 13 seeking the complete data of the electoral bonds in …