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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.

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