Why are CIC posts vacant, Delhi High Court tells government to explain

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has asked the Centre to explain why vacancies in the Central Information Commission, the final appellate authority for Right to Information Act, have not been filled for almost a year.

Hearing a PIL filed by RTI activists RK Jain, Lokesh Batra and Subhash Chandra Agrawal, the division bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw on Wednesday gave the government a day to explain why nobody had been appointed to the post of Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and the three posts of Information Commissioner.

Additional Solicitor General Sanjai Jain, who was representing the government, said he needed four weeks to get the details from the Centre. However, the court declined and asked Jain to come back with details by Thursday morning.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, who represented the petitioners, argued that the posts had been vacant for almost a year and the government was trying to stifle the RTI Act by not making the appointments.

While the post of CIC has been lying vacant since August 2014, the three posts of Information Commissioner have been vacant for almost a year, Bhushan said. Because of the non-appointment of CIC and the three Information Commissioners, the pendency at the commission has shot up to a whopping 37,650 cases. About 13,615 appeals and complaints are pending for disposal before the bench of CIC, including cases of important authorities

The petition before the high court says, “The commission was working at the strength of 1+9 in 2013, but thereafter, the strength of the commission has come down to 0+7. As per section 12 of the RTI Act and the judgment passed by this Hon’ble Court, the strength of the commission should be 1+10. Thus, there are presently four vacant posts of ICs, including one Chief Information Commissioner.”