HC reserves order on plea for appointing information commissioners

The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its order on a plea seeking directions for the central government to appoint the chief information commissioner and three information commissioners as the posts have been lying vacant for nearly a year.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice R.S. Endlaw reserved the order after parties in the case concluded their arguments.

Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain told the court that the government is in the process of filling up vacancies and steps have already been taken in this regard.

The candidates for the posts have been shortlisted, secured vigilance clearance and the process would be completed within a month or two as now the matter be put up before the selection committee headed by the prime minister as per the RTI Act, he said.

The chief information commissioner and information commissioners would be appointed by the president on the recommendations of the selection committee, he added.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by Right to Information (RTI) activists R.K. Jain, Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd.), and Subhash Chandra Agarwal, which said that under the RTI Act, 2005, the central information commission was created as a statutory body to decide appeals and complaints against public authorities for non-compliance of the act.

The commission's proper functioning is essential for the proper implementation of the RTI Act, argued advocate Prashant Bhushan, adding that the government has attempted to stifle the functioning of the transparency law by failing to do its statutory duty to make the appointments.

The post of CIC is vacant since August 23, 2014, and the posts of three commissioners have also been vacant for almost one year, it said.

"Thus, the commission has been kept headless and there are four vacancies. There are only seven information commissioners functioning as of now," said Bhushan appearing for RTI activists.