After RTI Activist Flags Vacancies in Information Commissions, Supreme Court Seeks Data from Centre & States: LiveLaw
Moneylife Digital Team 27 November 2024
The Supreme Court has called on the Centre and states to furnish data regarding vacancies in Central and state information commissions as well as the proposed timelines for appointment of information commissioners, says a report from LiveLaw.
 
A bench of justice Surya Kant and justice Ujjal Bhuyan passed the order in a public interest litigation (PIL) raising the issue of a large number of vacancies in information commissions set up under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
 
Senior counsel Prashant Bhushan appeared for the petitioners and submitted that, despite the SC's 2019 judgement in Anjali Bhardwaj, Commodore Lokesh Batra and Amrita Johari vs Union of India, as well as multiple other orders passed, the vacancies in central information commission (CIC) and several state information commissions (SICs) have not been filled.
 
He highlighted that in the case of CIC, as of 11 November 2024, only three posts were filled, while eight were vacant. "They are virtually destroying the Right to Information (RTI) Act by freezing the process of independent appeal. The whole object of creating information commissions was that these are supposed to be independent people outside the government, who will decide these appeals in a time-bound manner," advocate Bhushan said.
 
According to the petitioners, Maharashtra SIC has seven vacant posts, Jharkhand SIC has been defunct since May 2020, Tripura SIC has been defunct since July 2021 and Telangana SIC has been defunct since February 2023. Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and Karnataka SICs were also stated to have vacant posts in the range of one to eight.
 
Additional solicitor general Brijendra Chahar, for the Union government, submitted in connection with CIC that four commissioners were set to retire in November 2023. As such, fresh appointments were made. He sought time to file an updated compliance report, as the last report on record was of November 2023. The request was allowed, with a direction that the status report shall specify steps taken by the competent authority to fill the eight out of 11) vacant posts in CIC, the report says.
 
Senior counsel Mr Bhushan urged that the direction to fill-up vacancies may be extended to all states. Accordingly, the Court extended its order to chief secretaries of all states, who shall submit status reports in two weeks, indicating the total number of posts in respective SICs as well as the number of posts lying vacant. "They shall also undertake the time within which the selection process will be initiated and posts will be filled", the Court added.
 
Comments
Meenal Mamdani
2 months ago
We should have foreseen the numerous ways that the governments at the State and Central level will use to stymie the Right To Information Act.
Can anything be done to punish such wilful disobedience?

Perhaps the judges could levy a personal fine on the administrators involved. This fine, even if a small amount, would serve two purposes. It would not affect the public exchequer and it would make the bureaucrat visible to one and all as the one promoting wrongdoing, for personal or political gain.
uttammishra118
Replied to Meenal Mamdani comment 2 months ago
If the summit court gives a judgment with regard to the time period within which a vacant position of information commissioner should be filled after it being vacant then only the executive will take the appointments of commissioner seriously.
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