Court asks state to clarify RTI stand

The state government was directed by the Bombay High Court on Friday to explain its stand on a public interest litigation challenging new restrictions in the Maharashtra Right to Information rules.

It stipulates that a request for information must pertain to one subject and must not exceed 150 words. The petitioner claims that these provisions will cause harassment to citizens and will only serve "to deprive citizens from seeking information within time as well as in reasonable costs."

However, responding to the case, a bench of Justice D D Sinha and Justice V K Tahilramani said, "These regulations are only to ensure convenience. They do not seem to restrain any public information. If information pertaining to many subjects is required, a person can always file multiple applications." However, the court also observed that it is a "sensitive matter". The state government has been asked to file an affidavit in six weeks.

Justice Girish Godbole of the Bombay High Court — who was part of a bench that ordered filmmaker Subhash Ghai to return a plot where Subhash Ghai's film institute is located — has put in his papers, a little more than a year after he was appointed on May 4 last year. The reasons for his decision to resign was not known.

Sources said he put in his papers on Thursday but his application is still under process. He was part of a division bench that ordered filmmaker Subhash Ghai to return the 20- acre plot for Whistling Woods to the state government.

The judgement had indicted former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for having "misused his official capacity" as CM and granting undue favours to Ghai.

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