The Wire: New Delhi: Tuesday, June 06, 2017.
Pointing out
that even though nine months have passed since the Department of Personnel and
Training (DoPT) initiated the process of inviting applications for the posts of
two central information commissioners, which were to fall vacant, the National
Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI) has now written to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, who is in-charge of the ministry, to ask him to ensure
that the appointments are made at the earliest.
The NCPRI
stated in a letter sent today that two posts of information commissioners at
the Central Information Commission (CIC) have been lying vacant for several
months now as M.A. Khan Yusfi and Basant Seth retired on December 31, 2016, and
February 17, 2017, respectively. “While the DoPT had invited applications for
the posts in September 2016, well before the vacancies arose, no appointments
have been made till date,” the letter said.
Number of
pending cases on the rise
The group has
brought to the prime minister’s notice that “under the RTI Act, information
commissions are the final appellate authority and are entrusted with the
crucial task of deciding appeals and complaints of persons who have been unable
to secure information in accordance with the RTI Act or are aggrieved by
violations of the Act” and therefore it was “imperative that these bodies
function effectively and dispose cases before them in a timely manner”.
Noting that
the CIC has been functioning at a reduced strength for almost five months, the
NCPRI has told the prime minister that the vacancies were “hindering peoples’
fundamental right to information,” as guaranteed under the RTI Act, 2005. It
said, with fewer information commissioners hearing cases, people have to wait
longer for their appeals and complaints to be heard by the CIC.
The letter
stated that according to the information available on the website of the CIC as
on June 1, 2017, nearly 27,000 appeals and complaints were pending before the
commission.
Appointment
process should be made public
The NCPRI has
also raised concerns about the lack of transparency in the appointment process.
“In response to an application filed under the RTI Act, the DoPT has denied
information about the process adopted for shortlisting candidates. The
department has refused to disclose the names of people who have applied in
response to the DoPT circular inviting applications for the two posts,” it
said.
The NCPRI
told the prime minister that such an approach runs contrary to the norms. It
said the “Supreme Court has underlined the need for transparency in the
appointment of information commissioners” and “courts have struck down
appointments of several information commissioners in state information
commissions on account of lack of transparency in the process of appointments.”
The NCPRI has
demanded that “the process and criteria for selecting candidates must be made
public and the qualifications and backgrounds of short-listed candidates should
be displayed in the public domain”.
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