SC issues notice in petition calling for filling of vacancies in Central, State Information Commissions

The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Centre and eight States in a petition relating to filling up of vacancies in the Central Information Commission as well as Information Commissions in eight states..Filed by Anjali Bhardwaj, Commodore Lokesh Batra, and Amrita Johri, the petition raises the issue of the high number of vacancies in Information Commissions in about eight states. The petitioners were represented by Advocates Kamini Jaiswal and Pranav Sachdeva..This matter was heard by a Bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, with the Court issuing notice to the Centre as well as the states in question. The Court asked the Assistant Solicitor General Pinky Anand appearing for the Centre as to why were there no appointments despite such high number of vacancies..It is the case of the petitioner that while the functioning of the information commissions is necessary for the effective implementation of the Right to Information Act (RTI Act) and the high vacancies in these commissions is leading to the crippling of the purpose of this Act..“The Government of India and state governments have attempted to stifle the functioning of the RTI Act by failing to do their statutory duty of ensuring appointment of commissioners in the Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions, in a timely manner”, reads the petition..The petition highlights the abysmally high number of pending appeals and complaints in the petition and even points out that while most State information commissions are working with a high number of vacant positions, Andhra Pradesh SIC is completely non-functional with not even a single information commissioner appointed..The submission made in the petition is that the purpose of furnishing information in a time-bound manner as envisaged in the RTI Act stands vitiated with the Information Commissions, in light of a large number of vacancies, take months to dispose of appeals or complaints..The petitioners have prayed for the Court to direct the Centre and the concerned States to take immediate steps to fill up the vacancies in the CIC and the respective SICs and for these appointments to be made in a transparent manner..Additionally, the petitioners have also prayed for a direction to be issued to all the States and Centre to commence appointment procedure three months ahead of the time when a vacancy is expected to be created..Read the Petition: