The Hindu: Delhi: Wednesday,
27 November 2024.
The petitioners said the deliberate non-filling of vacancies was a ploy to reduce the RTI law, which upheld transparency in governance, to a ‘dead letter’
The Supreme Court on Tuesday
took a serious view that the Central Information Commission (CIC), the top
appellate body under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, has eight vacancies
out of a total 11 sanctioned posts.
The court found the government has hardly budged since October 2023, when the CIC boasted seven vacancies, with the serving four Information Commissioners (ICs) on the brink of retirement the following month (November 2023).
Appearing before a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyyan, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj and other petitioners, said the deliberate non-filling of vacancies was a ploy to reduce the RTI law, which upheld transparency in governance, to a “dead letter”.
“They are virtually destroying the RTI Act,” Mr. Bhushan submitted.
Additional Solicitor General Brijender Chahar, appearing for the Union government, said the 11 posts in the CIC was the “maximum”. He said three fresh appointments had been made to the CIC in November 2023. He sought 10 days to file a status report on the latest position on vacancies in the CIC.
“But why do you not go ahead and make appointments and file a compliance report?” Justice Kant asked Mr. Chahar.
A chart placed on record by Mr. Bhushan in court showed the CIC had 22,462 appeals pending as on November 9, 2024.
Meanwhile, the State Information Commissions (SICs) in Jharkhand, Telangana and Tripura have been defunct for years. In Jharkhand’s case, the SIC has become virtually non-existent since May 2020. The public had even stopped registering appeals and complaints.
The Tripura SIC became defunct for lack of appointments of ICs in July 2021. The Telangana SIC, which has 14,162 cases pending, was rendered extinct in February 2023 due to a lack of appointments, the chart showed.
The Maharashtra SIC has seven vacancies, including the absence of a Chief Information Commissioner, and with only four ICs. The backlog is over a lakh appeals as on August 31, 2024.
Karnataka has eight vacancies, including no Chief Information Commissioner, and only three serving ICs, with a pendency of over 50,000 appeals.
Tamil Nadu has two vacancies with a pendency of 41,241 appeals as on October 31, 2023.
SICs in Chhattisgarh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Odisha have two, one, four, and five vacancies, respectively.
Mr. Bhushan said it was time for the court to “crack the whip” as this was a deliberate attempt to “destroy the RTI Act”.
The court directed the Jharkhand Chief Secretary to initiate action for the appointment process and file a compliance report.
The Bench noted the Telangana government counsel’s submission that the selection process for the SIC had commenced in June. The court asked the State to file a status report explaining how soon the appointments would be made. It has also asked the Tripura government to explain the status of the selection process.
The petitioners said the deliberate non-filling of vacancies was a ploy to reduce the RTI law, which upheld transparency in governance, to a ‘dead letter’
The court found the government has hardly budged since October 2023, when the CIC boasted seven vacancies, with the serving four Information Commissioners (ICs) on the brink of retirement the following month (November 2023).
Appearing before a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyyan, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj and other petitioners, said the deliberate non-filling of vacancies was a ploy to reduce the RTI law, which upheld transparency in governance, to a “dead letter”.
“They are virtually destroying the RTI Act,” Mr. Bhushan submitted.
Additional Solicitor General Brijender Chahar, appearing for the Union government, said the 11 posts in the CIC was the “maximum”. He said three fresh appointments had been made to the CIC in November 2023. He sought 10 days to file a status report on the latest position on vacancies in the CIC.
“But why do you not go ahead and make appointments and file a compliance report?” Justice Kant asked Mr. Chahar.
A chart placed on record by Mr. Bhushan in court showed the CIC had 22,462 appeals pending as on November 9, 2024.
Meanwhile, the State Information Commissions (SICs) in Jharkhand, Telangana and Tripura have been defunct for years. In Jharkhand’s case, the SIC has become virtually non-existent since May 2020. The public had even stopped registering appeals and complaints.
The Tripura SIC became defunct for lack of appointments of ICs in July 2021. The Telangana SIC, which has 14,162 cases pending, was rendered extinct in February 2023 due to a lack of appointments, the chart showed.
The Maharashtra SIC has seven vacancies, including the absence of a Chief Information Commissioner, and with only four ICs. The backlog is over a lakh appeals as on August 31, 2024.
Karnataka has eight vacancies, including no Chief Information Commissioner, and only three serving ICs, with a pendency of over 50,000 appeals.
Tamil Nadu has two vacancies with a pendency of 41,241 appeals as on October 31, 2023.
SICs in Chhattisgarh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Odisha have two, one, four, and five vacancies, respectively.
Mr. Bhushan said it was time for the court to “crack the whip” as this was a deliberate attempt to “destroy the RTI Act”.
The court directed the Jharkhand Chief Secretary to initiate action for the appointment process and file a compliance report.
The Bench noted the Telangana government counsel’s submission that the selection process for the SIC had commenced in June. The court asked the State to file a status report explaining how soon the appointments would be made. It has also asked the Tripura government to explain the status of the selection process.
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