Guj HC invalidates appointment of 2 Information Commissioners

The Gujarat High Court today held the appointment of two state Information Commissioners as illegal, in response to a PIL alleging that the consultation process was not duly followed by the authorities.
A division bench of Justice Jayant Patel and S H Vora said that appointment of Information Commissioners B G Panchasara and Shridevi Shukla was illegal.
NGO 'Jagte Raho', through its president Praful Desai, had also alleged in its PIL that Panchasara and Shukla had no knowledge and experience in the field of right to information.
"Those two persons were neither in the public life nor they have knowledge in the particular field. Those are the requirements for selection on this position," the plea said.

"The selection committee did not discuss this aspect. Shridevi Shukla was a bureaucrat while B G Panchasara was a lecturer in a college at Bharuch," it said.
The petitioner further alleged that the appointment of both of them was example of favouritism.
Shukla and Panchasara were appointed as Information Commissioners of the state in May last year.