Commodore Batra urges Govt. to assure nation of its transparency

Right to Information activist Commodore (retd.) Lokesh Batra on Tuesday urged the government to issue a statement assuring the nation on its transparency, in light of the recent decisions taken by the same with regards to the Central Information Commission (CIC).

Commodore Batra was reacting to recent media reports, which speculated that the Department of Personnel and Training ordering the CIC to scrap all of its outsourced staff or reducing their wages might spell the end of the body.

"As of today, 37,706 cases are pending disposal in CIC of which 12,391 are pending in the Bench of 'Chief Information Commissioner'. These numbers are growing fast due to huge delay in appointing Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners in the CIC," he said, in a letter addressed to the Secretary (P) of the Government of India.

"The RTI fraternity is extremely disappointed about the above development and now comes the said media report which is sending wrong signals to the people that our Government is no more serious about 'Transparency Law'," he added.

The post of the Chief Information Commissioner lies vacant after Rajiv Mathur resigned in August 2014.