Business Standard: Bhopal: Friday, September 27, 2013.
Madhya Pradesh government has formed a three-member
committee to fill vacant posts of Information Commissioners in the State
Information Commission which are lying vacant for the last nine months.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Leader of
Opposition in Legislative Assembly Ajay Singh and Minister for Law and
Legislative Affairs Narottam Mishra will be the members of the select
committee, an official order by the government said.
The Committee will have its first meeting on
October 11. As many as 234 candidates, including retired bureaucrats, journalists, activists and even
industrialists, have applied for the posts of Information Commissioners.
The post of Chief Information Commissioner and 10 posts of Information Commissioners are lying vacant since December last
year.
The move came after Madhya Pradesh High Court,
while hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by RTI activist Ajay Dubey, in
January directed the state government to fill up vacant posts of commissioners
in the state's transparency watchdog.
Dubey had filed the PIL seeking appointments of
Information Commissioners through public advertisements and through an open and
transparent process.
According to officials, close to 12,000 appeals and complaints under Right to Information Act are pending with the
Madhya Pradesh Information Commission.
"There is a need to organise Lok Adalats to dispose cases pending in State
Information Commission. The government should appoint information commissioners
as early as possible and start hearing the matter," Dubey said.
He said that selection committee should ensure
representation of tribals and women in the commission to ensure transparency
and faith from all sections of society.
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