Firstpost: New Delhi: Friday, May 22, 2015.
The CIC,
which has remained without a head for over 10 months, may soon have a new chief
with the Centre informing Delhi High Court on Thursday that candidates for the
posts of Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners have been
shortlisted and granted vigilance clearance.
"Vigilance
clearance from the respective cadre controlling authority in respect of the shortlisted
serving officers and inputs from the Intelligence Bureau in respect of retired
officers has been sought vide communications dated 5 May 2015 and 2 May 2015,
respectively," Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain told the court.
The clearance
has also been granted, he informed a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and
Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, adding that the matter now be put up before the
selection committee headed by the Prime Minister as per the RTI Act, and the
process would take another one or two months.
The
goverment's response came after the court directed it to expedite the
appointment process and inform it about the progress as the vacancies in
Central Information Commission have led to a massive backlog of cases.
The Centre's
counsel further said that the Chief IC and IC would be appointed by the
President on the recommendations of the selection committee.
The court was
hearing a PIL filed by RTI activists R K Jain, Lokesh K Batra and Subhash
Chandra Agarwal alleging that no action has been taken on the issue despite two
"distress" letters written by CIC to the Prime Minister's Office
(PMO).
The PIL filed
through lawyers Prashant Bhushan has sought filling up of posts of Chief IC and
subordinate staff in a time-bound frame.
During the
hearing,, senior advocate Indira Jaising move an application on behalf of
Anjali Bhardwaj, Nikhil Dey and Amrita Johri, seeking direction to the
government to allow the senior-most IC to hear a case in the absence of its
chief.
Taking note
of the submissions made by all the parties, the court said it would consider
all the aspects raised before it and pass an appropriate order.
The plea
stated that "due to non-appointment of the Chief IC since 23 August 2014,
the appeals and complaints relating to the important authorities including CVC,
CBI, President's Secretariat, PMO, Cabinet Secretariat, Supreme Court and High
Courts, Lok Sabha, CAG, DOPT, UPSC and Staff Selection Commission are not being
heard and there is a vacuum of jurisdiction at CIC for more than 100
authorities/departments, as no officiating arrangements for CIC have been made.
"The RTI
Act prescribed statutory time lines of 30 days for providing the information
from the date of application and disposal of first appeal within maximum period
of 45 days."
It stated
that these time-lines were being defeated due to non-appointment on these
positions and the Commission was now taking nearly 2-3 years' time to hear
complaints.
"The
effective functioning of adjudicators under the RTI Act - the IC - is critical
for the health of the transparency regime in the country.
"It is
therefore a matter of grave concern that the post of the Chief IC in the CIC
has been lying vacant since August 23, 2014. It is for the first time since the
constitution of the CIC in 2005, the Commission is headless," the plea
added.
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