The Wire: Delhi: Saturday, 25 October 2025.
The activists pointed out that eight commissioner posts have remained vacant since November 2023, despite repeated directions from the Supreme Court to ensure timely and transparent appointments.
The Central Information
Commission (CIC) has been operating with only two information commissioners
since September 14. The post of the chief information commissioner and eight
commissioners are currently vacant, a situation which transparency activists say
“negates the very purpose of the RTI Act.”
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi, RTI activists Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri of Satark Nagrik Sangathan urged the government to fill all the nine vacancies “immediately” and “in a transparent manner.”
The activists pointed out that eight commissioner posts have remained vacant since November 2023, despite repeated directions from the Supreme Court to ensure timely and transparent appointments.
“The eight posts of information commissioners have been vacant since November 2023. As a result, the backlog of appeals/complaints has been increasing and is now nearly 30,000. Consequently, people are having to wait for a long time for disposal of their appeals/complaints. This negates the very purpose of the RTI Act, which is to ensure timebound access to information,” the activists wrote.
The CIC comprises of the chief information commissioner and not more than ten information commissioners. They are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the prime minister as chairperson, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union cabinet minister nominated by the prime minister.
Supreme Court’s orders ignored
“The issue of persistent delays in filling vacant posts in information commissions across the country led the Supreme Court to note in October 2023 that the failure to appoint commissioners in a timely manner is leading to a situation where “the right to information which is recognised under an act of parliament becomes a dead letter”,” the activists underlined in the letter addressed to the members of the selection committee.
The apex court had mandated proactive disclosure of key details such as advertisements inviting applications, criteria adopted for shortlisting candidates, names of search committee members, and lists of applicants and shortlisted candidates. Moreover, after the appointment process, all the deliberations and files are required to be placed in the public domain, as per the Supreme Court’s 2019 ruling.
However, Bhardwaj and Johri said these directives have not been followed. “It is a matter of grave concern that in the appointment process currently underway, the names of applicants, short-listed candidates and the short-listing criteria have not been placed in the public domain.”
Again, on January 7, 2025, the court directed the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to file an affidavit outlining timelines for the selection process and to disclose the names of search committee members and applicants. Further, the Supreme Court ordered that the affidavit should specify that candidates who did not apply in response to the advertisement shall not be offered appointments.
Past appointments also mired in controversy
The letter also highlights previous irregularities in the appointment of commissioners. In November 2020, a candidate who had not applied in response to the official advertisement was reportedly shortlisted and appointed in a “completely arbitrary manner”.
In November 2023, appointments of the chief and two information commissioners were made without the participation of the leader of the opposition, even though the RTI Act mandates that the selection committee must include them.
“There is no provision in the RTI Act which allows for a truncated selection committee to make appointments,” the activists emphasised, contrasting it with the Lokpal Act, which explicitly allows for such exceptions, “wherein there is a specific clause saying that no appointment shall be invalid merely due to absence/vacancy in the selection committee.”
They called on the current selection committee to “ensure that the stipulated appointment process and the measures for ensuring transparency, as also directed by the Supreme Court, are complied with.”
Right to information undermined
The letter underscores that the RTI Act, one of the country’s most empowering legislations, is used extensively by people, including the poor and marginalised, to access information about their rights.
“It is imperative that the CIC function effectively with a full complement of commissioners, so that people seeking information from public authorities under the central government can exercise their fundamental right to information meaningfully,” the activists wrote.
The activists pointed out that eight commissioner posts have remained vacant since November 2023, despite repeated directions from the Supreme Court to ensure timely and transparent appointments.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi, RTI activists Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri of Satark Nagrik Sangathan urged the government to fill all the nine vacancies “immediately” and “in a transparent manner.”
The activists pointed out that eight commissioner posts have remained vacant since November 2023, despite repeated directions from the Supreme Court to ensure timely and transparent appointments.
“The eight posts of information commissioners have been vacant since November 2023. As a result, the backlog of appeals/complaints has been increasing and is now nearly 30,000. Consequently, people are having to wait for a long time for disposal of their appeals/complaints. This negates the very purpose of the RTI Act, which is to ensure timebound access to information,” the activists wrote.
The CIC comprises of the chief information commissioner and not more than ten information commissioners. They are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the prime minister as chairperson, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union cabinet minister nominated by the prime minister.
Supreme Court’s orders ignored
“The issue of persistent delays in filling vacant posts in information commissions across the country led the Supreme Court to note in October 2023 that the failure to appoint commissioners in a timely manner is leading to a situation where “the right to information which is recognised under an act of parliament becomes a dead letter”,” the activists underlined in the letter addressed to the members of the selection committee.
The apex court had mandated proactive disclosure of key details such as advertisements inviting applications, criteria adopted for shortlisting candidates, names of search committee members, and lists of applicants and shortlisted candidates. Moreover, after the appointment process, all the deliberations and files are required to be placed in the public domain, as per the Supreme Court’s 2019 ruling.
However, Bhardwaj and Johri said these directives have not been followed. “It is a matter of grave concern that in the appointment process currently underway, the names of applicants, short-listed candidates and the short-listing criteria have not been placed in the public domain.”
Again, on January 7, 2025, the court directed the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to file an affidavit outlining timelines for the selection process and to disclose the names of search committee members and applicants. Further, the Supreme Court ordered that the affidavit should specify that candidates who did not apply in response to the advertisement shall not be offered appointments.
Past appointments also mired in controversy
The letter also highlights previous irregularities in the appointment of commissioners. In November 2020, a candidate who had not applied in response to the official advertisement was reportedly shortlisted and appointed in a “completely arbitrary manner”.
In November 2023, appointments of the chief and two information commissioners were made without the participation of the leader of the opposition, even though the RTI Act mandates that the selection committee must include them.
“There is no provision in the RTI Act which allows for a truncated selection committee to make appointments,” the activists emphasised, contrasting it with the Lokpal Act, which explicitly allows for such exceptions, “wherein there is a specific clause saying that no appointment shall be invalid merely due to absence/vacancy in the selection committee.”
They called on the current selection committee to “ensure that the stipulated appointment process and the measures for ensuring transparency, as also directed by the Supreme Court, are complied with.”
Right to information undermined
The letter underscores that the RTI Act, one of the country’s most empowering legislations, is used extensively by people, including the poor and marginalised, to access information about their rights.
“It is imperative that the CIC function effectively with a full complement of commissioners, so that people seeking information from public authorities under the central government can exercise their fundamental right to information meaningfully,” the activists wrote.
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