Tribune India: Vijay Mohan: Chandigadh: Tuesday, February 28, 2023.
The Punjab State Information Commission (PSIC) will not have more than five commissioners according to directions passed recently by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The Commission, according to notified rules, can have one Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and not more than 10 Information Commissioners.
This has been revealed in a reply received by a retired Army officer this month in response to details sought from the PSIC on the appointment of commissioners under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
“Keeping in view the work load of the State Information Commission, Punjab, the number of Information Commissioners / Members in the Commission may be reduced to five. However, at present, if more number of Information Commissioners are working then the number may be reduced as and when a vacancy occurs,” a noting sheet attached with the reply states.
PSIC is an autonomous and statutory body constituted under the Right to Information Act, 2005, by the state government through a notification in the official gazette. The members are appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of a selection committee consisting of the Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the legislative assembly and a Cabinet Minister nominated by the Chief Minister.
A short while before the state assembly elections in February 2022, the previous government had advertised three vacancies for Information Commissioners and the selection committee had recommended the names to the Governor. The file was returned by the Governor as the model of code of conduct had by then come into operation.
On assuming office, the new government had ordered a comparative study of the functioning of the commission in different states. The workload of PSIC was compared to that of the commissions of two states — Haryana and Telangana. At the time of the study, the PSIC had 10 members, including the CIC, while the other two states had six members each. The study, according to RTI documents, revealed that the average annual disposal rate of appeals and complaints per commissioner from August 2021 to June 2021 was 418 in Punjab as compared to 414 in Telangana and 1,214 in Haryana.
The number of appeals and complaints registered and disposed of during the aforementioned period in Punjab was 5,884 and 3,938, respectively. In Telangana the figures were 6,041 and 2,310, respectively, while for Haryana these were 8,683 and 8,596, respectively.
The number of show-cause notices issued during this period were 631 in Punjab, 287 in Telangana and 2,648 in Haryana, the documents show. The move to cut down on the number of information commissioners has also kicked up a debate amongst RTI activists.
Govt ordered study of Panel’s functioning
On assuming office, the AAP government had ordered a comparative study of the functioning of the commission in different states. The workload of the PSIC was compared to that of the commissions in Haryana and Telangana.
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