The Madras High Court today upheld the Centre's decision to exclude the CBI from the ambit of the RTI Act holding that it found no error in the government's position that the investigating agency was a security and intelligence organisation.

"We find no error in the decision of the government of India to include the CBI in the Second Schedule of the RTI Act," a bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanan held, dismissing a petition challenging the Centre's June 9 notification excluding the CBI from the Act.

The second schedule exempts security and intelligence organisations from disclosing any information under the transparency act except in certain cases including allegations of human rights violations.

Passing orders on the petition filed by RTI activist and advocate S Vijayalakashmi, the court said the matter had been considered at all levels before the government decided that the CBI was a security and intelligence organisation.

"We find no justifiable reasons to depart from such findings which appears to have been arrived at after considering all materials placed before the government, taken note of by the Committee of Secretaries and other authorities, prior to issuance of the impugned notification," it said.

Noting that intelligence led approach had enabled the CBI to make headway in sensitive cases with a direct bearing on national and internal security, the court said, "Therefore we are convinced that the CBI could very well be termed as an intelligence agency of the government of India."

On the question whether the CBI was both an intelligence and security organisation, the bench said the security of the state could be affected in various ways including corruption involving officials, unauthorised disclosure of state secrets, economic offenses to destabilise national economy.

"Therefore, intelligence gathering is an inseparable part of the work of a security agency. Thus it can be safely concluded that the security of the state is a very broad concept," the judges said, adding they were convinced CBI would qualify to be defined as a security organisation as well.

Indisputably, the CBI was dealing with so many cases of larger public interest and the disclosure of information "shall have great impact not only within the country but abroad also and jeopardise its work", the Bench said.

The court did not entertain the apprehension that the CBI, by virtue of its inclusion in the second schedule, had got a blanket exemption.

Information pertaining to allegations of corruption and human rights violation by the CBI were not excluded under sub-section (1) of Section 24 of the RTI Act, it pointed out.

Daryaganj-based advocate Vivek Garg will have to wait a while to know the full ramifications of the latest document he has fished out of government vaults using the powerful Right to Information Act.

The 11-page document from the finance ministry to the Prime Minister's Office, and "seen by the finance minister" Pranab Mukherjee, now has home minister P Chidambaram under attack for his role in the 2G spectrum allocation.

The opposition parties are united in demanding Chidambaram's resignation and a CBI inquiry against him for his role as the finance minister when the spectrum allocation was carried out by then telecom minister A Raja in 2008. Multiple RTI applications filed by Garg with the Prime Minister's Office resulted in the finance ministry note to be released to him.

It is not the first time that Garg has got crucial documents from the government through RTI. Garg has till now filed over 4,000 RTIs applications, on matters ranging from local municipal issues of Delhi to Mayawati's alleged misdeeds.

But RTI is not his only way of courting controversies. His family runs Manas Publications which has published many controversial books on intelligence and military.

Garg filed multiple RTI queries with the PMO, seeking copies of all communications between the PMO and the finance ministry, telecom ministry and other stakeholders involved in the allocation of spectrum. The result has been a deluge of documents, running into hundreds of pages, from various stakeholders.

Most of those documents were already in public domain, thanks to whistleblowers and other officials who helped the media and activists expose the 2G spectrum scam.

But there was one list that brought in the storm: A list of 21 documents that are "communication between the PMO and the ministry of finance on 2G spectrum/licence matter from April 2004 onwards". The last document, 21st, is "Department of Economic Affairs' OM" (office memorandum) dated 25.3.2011, signed by PGS Rao, deputy director of the infrastructure and investment division in the Union finance ministry.

The document would have been destined to the dustbin had it not been for the covering letter which said, "This has been seen by the finance minister." As Garg caters to the media demands in the wake of fresh interest in the documents about the 2G scam, he says there are more documents with him that would throw fresh light on the controversy.

It was Delhi advocate Vivek Garg who fished out the letter implicating P Chidambaram in the 2G scam. It is not the first time that he has got crucial papers as he has filed 4,000 RTIs.

The Madras high court has issued notices to top oil companies on a public interest writ petition alleging several serious irregularities in the supply chain of LPG connection for domestic purposes.

The first bench comprising Chief Justice MY Eqbal and Justice TS Sivagnanam issued notices returnable in two weeks after counsel Narmadha Sampath submitted that oil companies insisted on 21-day gap for each refill of LPG cylinders and their agencies too insisted that the new consumers buy some other products if they were to be allotted a LPG connection.

The PIL, filed by the Coimbatore Consumer Voice, further contended that though as per the code of practice a consumer must get a refill within three days of preparation of bill, in reality it took 20 days for households to get refill. Agencies either ignore calls or make a false claim that no one was at home when the cylinder reached households, it said, adding that a Coimbatore-based LPG gas agency compelled consumers to purchase tube light, lighter, stove and cooker, along with gas cylinders.

Claiming that no action was taken against the erring agencies even if specific complaints were lodged, the petitioner-forum said it had submitted two representations on July 27 and August 20. Noting that no action was taken on these complaints, the petitioner said the court must direct the respondent-oil companies dispose of the representations in accordance with law.

The petitioner further submitted that though the district collectors were vested with the power to fix a uniform sum as delivery charges to be paid by consumers, the officials do not perform their duty in this regard.

Oil companies, on their part, have miserably failed to take action against agencies/dealers who breach the code of conduct, the petitioner said, adding that documents obtained by him through the Right To Information (RTI) Act revealed that several mandatory provisions of law were being violated by the oil firms.

When the matter is taken up for further hearing next, oil majors including HPCL, IOC and BPCL will file their counter-affidavits.

In a decision, perhaps first in the region following the implementation of Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005, a consumer court in Mohali has held that a person seeking information under the RTI Act is a "consumer" and the department delaying information can be held liable for "deficiency in service" under the Consumer Protection Act.

The decision was pronounced on Wednesday by the district consumer forum, Mohali, while directing assistant public information officer (APIO) of the Rural Development and Panchayats Department, Punjab, to pay Rs 5,000 as fine along with litigation cost of Rs 2000 for delay in supplying information to the complainant Balraj Kalra.

The directions were passed by the president of consumer forum, Mohali, B S Mehandiratta in a complaint filed by Kalra, a resident of Kotkapura. Pronouncing the orders, the forum held, "Delay in supplying information to an applicant beyond the stipulated period of 30 days amounts to deficiency in service as the fee of Rs 10 paid by the applicant amounts to "consideration", and thus the RTI applicant is a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act. Thus, in such a case a complaint alleging deficiency in service is maintainable before a consumer forum".

While holding that the complainant had been supplied some information after the expiry of 30 days, which was sent by ordinary post, instead of registered post, amounted to "deficiency in service", the district forum directed the department to refund to the complainant Rs 25 for the postal stamps that he had sent to the respondent for supplying information under registered post.

The complainant, Balraj Kalra had sought certain information from the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats, Punjab under the RTI Act. However, the department not only delayed in providing information but also sent the requisite information through ordinary post instead of registered post, as sought by the complainant.

Citizens will soon be able to file Right to Information (RTI) applications related to state departments while sitting at home.

The state government on Thursday decided to evolve an RTI portal for a single-point access to all information and services under the sunshine Act.

According to Nandkumar Jantre, secretary, general administration department (administrative reforms), government of Maharashtra, the main objective of setting up the portal is to allow online filing of applications. He added that the portal will also facilitate tracking the status of an RTI application online. The decision was taken at a meeting convened by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan to discuss the implementation of recommendations made by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission.

The portal will also reduce RTI-related paperwork for government offices and provide a common platform for making and updating voluntary disclosures. Jantre further said that the portal will facilitate centralized monitoring of the status of RTI applications, enabling detection of cases where applications have not been disposed off in time. Jantre said that the plan was to launch the portal within two months.

In another citizen-centric decision, Chavan directed authorities to ensure that all departments and government offices compulsorily display and observe the citizen's charter, which assigns a fixed time-frame for delivery of services. In fact, the Chavan-led government has even decided to examine the feasibility of introducing a new legislation in the form of the Right to Services Act to fix penalties on officials failing to observe the time-limit for delivery of various services.

The central commission, which was led by union minister Veerappa Moily, has submitted 15 reports recommending measures to improve ethics, accountability, and transparency in administration. Some of these include decentralization of powers, expanding e-governance, strengthening the Lokayukta, and regular online updates of government resolutions, and decisions. With implementation of these reforms necessitating a major administrative overhaul and infrastructure upgrade, Chavan decided to appoint a high-powered committee under chief secretary Ratnakar Gaikwad to monitor and drive its implementation. A task force will be appointed in each department to implement the reforms.

Chavan also directed officials to strengthen the public grievance system and extend the Lokshahi Din to taluka level during the meeting. Discussions on filling up vacancies at a war footing and revisions in pay grades for employees were also discussed, officials said.