Indian
Express: Hyderabad: Wednesday, May 17, 2017.
There are 15,953 petitions and second appeals
pending with the State Information Commission for disposal as of date. However,
with the only remaining State Information Commissioner (SIC) completing his
tenure on May 15, not only the fate of the Commission and the cases but also
the future of around 35 persons employed presently with the Commission in the city hangs in balance.
Ironically, even without a single SIC holding
office, the employees still continue to work. Earlier in April, the Supreme
Court had vacated four State Information Commissioners S Imtiyaz Ahmed, M
Vijaya Nirmala, Lam Thanthiya Kumari and Varre Venkateswarlu. The last SIC P
Vijaya Babu completed his tenure on May 14, making the institution defunct.
AP government, through its principal secretary of
the general administration department, had on May 4 shot a letter to Governor
ESL Narasimhan conveying its inability to provide financial assistance to the
commission.
“The TS government is seeking opinion from law
department to create a new commission and the files are on the move. The cases
will remain pending till then,” said Vijayababu Pola, the former and the last
state information commissioner. However, prior to his retirement, the
commissioner in response to the AP government letter shot off another letter to
the governor reiterating the point that any decision pertaining to the
commission is now in the hands of the Centre.
“They are in no way related to the issue yet they
have sent a letter,” said Vijaya Babu. They don’t seem to wish for the smooth
functioning of the commission and have diluted the power of RTI, alleged the
former commissioner. “Even if they have an opinion there are other channels
they should have adopted,” he added.
The fate of these employees at information
commission is at risk.
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