Economic Times: New Delhi: Wednesday, September
12, 2018.
The government had initiated the
controversial move to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act two years ago,
it has revealed in response to a pointed query by the Supreme Court on why it
had not made appointments despite advertising for filling up vacancies in 2016.
Opposition parties and RTI activists were
taken by surprise when the government listed the RTI Act amendment Bill in the
monsoon session of Parliament without holding any consultations. However, with
the government’s reply to the apex court it has now emerged that the government
had kept all appointments to the Central Information Commission (CIC) in
abeyance as it wanted to push the amendments first.
In its affidavit, the government said,
“It is submitted that the Government of India had issued advertisement dated
02.09.2016 in the leading newspapers (two each English and Hindi) and also
uploaded on the DoPT’s (Department of Personnel and Training’s) website
inviting applications for filling up of posts of information commissioners. A
process for amendment of the Right to Information Act 2005 was also initiated
to incorporate express/ specific enabling provisions for determining the term of
office, salaries and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of service
of the chief information commissioner and the information commissioners of the
Central Information Commission (CIC) and chief state information commissioners
and state information commissioners. The aforesaid selection process was not
pursued pending the outcome of the process for amendment of the Act.”
The Supreme Court is hearing a public
interest litigation (PIL) filed by RTI activists Anjali Bhardwaj, Amrita Johri
and Lokesh Batra seeking judicial intervention to straighten out appointment
process in information commissions. At present, there are four vacancies in
CIC, with the first vacancy occurring 18 months ago in December 2016. Two more
information commissioners, including chief RK Mathur, will retire in November.
However, no appointments have been made.
After the PIL was filed in Supreme Court
and hearings started taking place, the government called for applications once
again through advertisements on July 27, 2018. However, the advertisement did
not mention how many posts would be filled and what the tenure of the
commissioners would be. In its affidavit, the government has now clarified that
it intends to fill only four posts and not the vacancies arising later in
November. “Presently there are four vacant posts of information commissioners
in CIC that are under the purview of the advertisement for now. Suitable
decision, in respect of the vacancies likely to arise in the future in CIC,
would be taken subsequently according to the requirement/exigencies at the
time,” the affidavit said.
The government’s stand has sparked
concern among RTI activists. Bhardwaj told ET, “For the last four years, we
have had to take the judicial route every time any vacancy arose in CIC. The
government has submitted that it wants to fill only four vacancies and not the
two that would arise in less than two months. This is worrying as it seems that
the government is working towards a three or fourmember commission. This would
overburden CIC and gradually mean the death of RTI.”