Skip to main content

Supreme Court asks govt to appoint 3 Information Commissioners in 6 weeks

The Supreme Court today asked the government to appoint three Information Commissioners (ICs) in the Central Information Commission (CIC), whose posts are lying vacant for quite some time, within six weeks.

The bench was hearing the plea of the central government filed against the November 6 Delhi High Court order asking it to appoint three ICs at the apex transparency panel.

Background :

  • The CIC, which is mandated to hear complaints and appeals from information seekers under the RTI Act, comprises a chief Commissioner and 10 Information Commissioners.

  • The government has been facing criticism from RTI activists over the delay in filling up the vacancies in the transparency watchdog.

  • At present, there are 7 Information Commissioners.

  • The DoPT had in 2014 called for the advertisements to fill vacant posts of Chief Information Commissioner and Commissioners.

  • Instead of filling all the posts from the applications received in response to these advertisements, the DoPT in September this year again invited applications for the posts.

  • In between, a panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently selected former Defence Secretary R K Mathur as the Chief Information Commissioner, breaking from the convention of appointing senior-most serving Information Commissioner as chief of the transparency panel.

  • After a High Court November 6th order that directed the central government to appoint CIC and ICs within six weeks from among the 553 applicants who had applied for the posts in response to its advertisements last year, the DoPT moved the apex court challenging it.

  • As per RTI Act, CIC is appointed by the President on the recommendation of the selection committee.

Who appoints Information commissioners as per the rules? 

  • The Central Information Commission (CIC) set up under the Right to Information Act is the authorised body, established in 2005,

  • The Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee consisting of–

    1. The Prime Minister, who shall be the Chairperson of the committee;

    2. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha;

    3. A Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister.

  • The Central Information Commission/State Information Commission has a duty to receive complaints.

  • Central Information Commission will have powers of Civil Court .

  • The CIC is appointed for five years or up to the age of 65, whichever is earlier, and has a rank equivalent to Chief Justice of India and Chief Election Commissioner.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Recommendations of Deepak Mohanty Committee on Medium-term Path on Financial Inclusion

Recommendations of Deepak Mohanty Committee on Medium-term Path on Financial Inclusion The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released the Report on Medium-term Path on Financial Inclusion submitted by 14-member committee headed by RBI Executive Director Deepak Mohanty. RBI had constituted the committee in July 2015 to examine the existing policy regarding financial inclusion and the for m a five-year (medium term) action plan. It was tasked to suggest plan on several components with regard to payments, deposits, credit, social security transfers, pension and insurance. Key recommendations : Cash transfer:  Augment the government social cash transfer in order to increase the personal disposable income of the poor. It would put the economy on a medium-term sustainable inclusion path. Sukanya Shiksha Scheme: Banks should make special efforts to step up account opening for females belonging to lower income group under this scheme for social cash transfer as a welfare measur
Post a Comment
Read more

Environment Ministry notifies revised standards for Common Effluent Treatment Plants

Environment Ministry notifies revised standards for Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) Across industrial clusters-PIB CETP • The concept of common effluent treatment plant has been accepted as a  solution for collecting, conveying, treating, and disposing of the effluents  from the industrial estates. • The effluent include industrial wastewaters and domestic sewage generated  from the estate. • This CETP concept helps small and medium scale industries to dispose of  their effluents. Otherwise it may not be economical for these industries to  treat their wastewaters or there may be space constraints. • Some of these industries may require to give preliminary treatment (for  removal of solids) so that the receiving sewers can be maintained free  flowing. • It may be required to correct pH or removal of specific pollutant before the  industry discharges in CETP. CETP • CETP is designed on the basis of: – Quality and flow rate of the wastewater. – Effluent standard required by CE
Post a Comment
Read more

India’s challenge of securing the seas

Three recent events underline India’s efforts to highlight its growing maritime interests and ambitions in order to secure them unilaterally and in partnership with others. The first was the quiet release of the Indian Maritime Security Strategy (IMSS) titled  Ensuring Secure Seas   in October. The second was the holding of the combined senior commanders’ conference, with top officers from all three services, on board   INS Vikramaditya , the Indian Navy’s latest aircraft carrier and its largest platform, in December. The last and most recent was India’s hosting of its second International Fleet Review (IFR) at Visakhapatnam in early February. While the pomp and circumstance as well as the photo-ops of the IFR, which attracted naval vessels from 50 countries, predictably, created the biggest splash, its significance is best understood in tandem with the 185-page IMSS-2015. Although the document is simultaneously comprehensive, conservative and cautious, it conveys one key message:
Post a Comment
Read more