There is a little bit of RTI in everybody’s life now; Chief Justice of India comes under the Act

IN YET another step towards openness and transparency in power corridors, the Delhi High Court said on Tuesday that the judiciary including the Chief Justice of India, would come under the purview of the Right to Information Act (RTI). Significantly, Indian bureaucrats have so far considered RTI as a deadly weapon to end the era of official secrecy.
A special three-judge Bench, led by Delhi High Court Chief Justice AP Shah, said that democracy expects openness and openness is concomitant of free society. “Wielders of power—legislative, executive and judicial—are entrusted to perform their functions on condition that they account for their stewardship to the people who authorise them to exercise such power,” the Bench said. Justices Vikramjit Sen and S Muralidhar are the other tow judges in the bench. The verdict has been widely hailed by legal experts across the country, some even terming it a very historic judgment which will enhance the stature of judiciary in the country.
Read:
RTI Regime: Prez Patil hopes bureaucracy to shed image of red-tapism
Government should create RTI implementation cell: Study
RTI finds number of free tickets doled out to Air India CMD's family
DoPT's online course on RTI
Disclosure of file notings by bureaucrats

Babudom over Netagiri
SSP Yadav, a 1972 batch IPS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre and vice-chairman and MD of the state-owned road transport corporation hiked bus fares last week without even consulting the political masters forcing Andhra Pradesh transport minister saying that he was “shocked” by Yadav not consulting him or the chief minister before taking such an important decision. Mr Yadav had earlier lost his prestigious assignment of the state’s director-general of police (DGP) after the helicopter crash death of then chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy in September, 2009. He was then made vice chairman and MD of the state transport corporation.
Though Mr Yadav took the politically sensitive decision of hiking the fare by almost 21% citing the mounting losses of the corporation in the wake of Telangana agitation, it was in reality an unprecedented case of Babudom over Netagiri.

Inter-ministry wrestling to have 120-kg category too
If you are a fat government official with a weight upto 120 kg, you can still try your luck in an inter-ministry wrestling competition beginning in New Delhi from February 4, 2010. There are seven weight categories starting with 55 kg and going upto 120 kg.
According to a government circular issued to all welfare officers of the ministry, those who wish to participate in the inter-ministry wrestling tournament are being requested to send their entries in the prescribed proforma to the Central Civil Services Cultural and Sports Board in New Delhi’s Lok Nayak Bhawan, on or before February 3, 2010. But there will be no competition if there are less than five competitors in any category.
Read the CIRCULAR, dated January 8, 2010