Indian Express: Chennai: Friday, April 24, 2015.
Madras High
Court on Thursday ordered notice to the Centre on a PIL seeking to fill up the
vacant post of the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC).
The post of
CIC remains vacant since August 8, 2014, resulting in mounting pendency in the
disposal of appeals which in effect defeats the very purpose of enacting the
RTI Act, the PIL said.
The
petitioner, Jawaharlal Shanmugam of Tiruvanmiyur, submitted that details in the
Central Information Commission’s website, reveal that 11,228 cases are pending
before the CIC.
When his RTI
application to income tax department and the appeal to the appellate authority
were rejected he filed a second appeal to the CIC, New Delhi. “Though the
appeal was registered, I did not receive any communication from the CIC. This
was, however, not a rare instance, as scores of petitions were pending before
the CIC,” said Shanmugam.
He pointed
out that the CIC holds important portfolios and the vacant post would add to
the woes of people seeking RTI replies.