Government departments should not insist on seeking address of an RTI applicant if a post box number is being provided to them for communication, the Centre has said.
The Ministry of Personnel has written to all central government ministries or departments, who act as public authorities mandated with providing information on RTI applications made to them, citing a judgement by Calcutta High Court in this regard.
“When the legislature thought it fit, the applicant need not disclose any personal detail, the authority should not insist upon his detailed whereabouts particularly when post box number is provided for establishing contact between him and the authority.
“In case the authority would find any difficulty with the post box number, they may insist upon personal details. However, in such case, it would be the solemn duty of the authority to hide such information and particularly from their website so that people at large would not know of the details,” the High Court judgement said.
The order had come following a writ petition by Avishek Goenka who sought court’s direction that authority should not insist upon the detailed address of the applicant as and when any application is made under the Right to Information Act.
The interested parties could cause a threat to the activist and there have been past incidents of unnatural deaths of activists in the field, presumably by persons having vested interest to conceal the information that is asked for by the activist, the petitioner had said.
Disposing of the petition on November 20, last year, the court had directed Secretary, Ministry of Personnel, to circulate a copy of its order to all concerned so that the authority can take appropriate measures to hide information with regard to personal details of the activists to avoid any harassment by the persons having vested interest.
The Personnel Ministry, nodal department for implementation of the RTI Act, had on Wednesday sent a copy of the court’s order to all ministries and chief secretaries of state governments for “appropriate action”.
“It is a step in the right direction towards protecting the lives of whistleblowers,” said Commodore Lokesh K Batra (Retd), who had in October 2013 brought to the notice of the Ministry that public information officers were sharing personal data of RTI applicants with private bodies, thus endangering the lives of information seekers.
The Aam Aadmi party had created awareness among Mumbaikars pertaining to the Adarsh scam and had erected hoardings of tainted leaders like Ashok Chavan, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Sunil Tatkare and many others who were responsible for indulging in corruption. The posters had the pictures of Maharashtra chief secretary J. S. Sahariya who has nothing to do with the infamous scam. On the other hand, when AV inquired with AAP leader, Mayank Gandhi about J.S. Sahariya’s role in the Adarsh scam he remained clueless about it. He also was unaware about J. S. Sahariya. Later, Mayank apologised for tarnishing Saharaiya’s reputation whose photo was present in poster along with Sushil Kumar Shinde and Sunil Tatkare. 
Disappointed at not being invited to the inaugural function of Terminal 2 of Mumbai international airport by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday, Mumbai mayor Sunil Prabhu wrote to the PM saying it was “great insult” to him and Mumbaikars.
Apparently eyeing a larger role in Maharashtra politics, Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is now making attempts to shed its “anti-North Indian” image by reaching out to the community, which accounts for sizeable number of voters in the state. 
Depressed over their health and financial problems,?a 72-year-old woman and her two sons, both in their fifties, allegedly committed suicide at their home in the city, police said on Friday. 
A corporator from the local civic body and her husband were nabbed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Thane Police for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2 lakh from a complainant. 
Maharashtra government today sanctioned Rs 403 crore to develop infrastructure facilities in Vasai-Virar, Nandurbar, Deglur and Bhusawal towns. 
Justice Mridula Bhatkar today granted Teesta and Anand interim relief from arrest for three weeks. One of the riot victims from Gulbarg Housing Society, which was burnt during the 2002 Godhra riots, had lodged a complaint with Ahmedabad police against Teesta, Anand and the NGOs run by them – Citizens for Justice and Peace and Sabrang Trust. According to the complaint, the accused had allegedly collected funds in the name of converting part of the housing society into a museum and had allegedly misappropriated funds. 
Shiv Sena on Friday opposed the use of the logo ‘Reliance Metro One’ for the metro railway stations in Mumbai, and said it should be just ‘Mumbai Metro One’.