Times
of India: Ahmedabad: Wednesday, 01 July 2015.
Gujarat high
court on Tuesday issued notice to the state government in response to a PIL
seeking direction to fill up five vacant posts of information commissioners
besides Chief Information Commissioner in the state information commission.
Petitioner
Praful Desai has filed this petition and urged the court to ask the government
to appoint five additional information commissioners besides the present
strength in the commission so that the appeals under the RTI Act could be
finalized expeditiously.
Desai
submitted that looking at increasing pendency of RTI applications and appeals,
an RTI activist Amit Jethava had filed a PIL and the HC ordered for appointment
of two information commissioners. Two years later, Desai himself filed a PIL
because pendency was increasing again. The court again ordered for appointment
and the commission got two information commissioners.
However, the
latest two appointments were canceled by the high court on basis of Desai's
petition that the persons appointed as information commissioners did not
fulfill the required criteria. Now the government should fill the vacant posts
so that people who seek information under the RTI laws get justice quickly. At
present, it takes two years for the commission to finalize an appeal.
Further
hearing is kept on July 31.