Petition in SC seeking transparent appointment of Information Commissioners in CIC under RTI

A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking timely and transparent appointment of Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission (CIC) under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking timely and transparent appointment of Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission (CIC) under the Right to Information Act, 2005. The application was filed by activist Anjali Bhardwaj through advocate Prashant Bhushan contended that six posts, including that of the CIC, remains vacant as of October 15, 2020.

"With the retirement of the Chief Information Commissioner on August 26, 2020 and another commissioner demitting office at the end of September 2020, currently 6 posts, including that of the Chief are lying vacant and the pendency of the appeals/complaints has risen to over 36,600," stated the application while seeking an urgent hearing. It also referred to the non-compliance by the Central government of the top court's December 16, 2019 order wherein it had given three months to the Centre to fill the vacancies that existed in the CIC.

"As of October 15, 2020, the number of pending appeals/complaints is more than 36,600. It is further submitted that it appears the UOI is resorting to issuing fresh advertisements instead of filling all the advertised vacant posts in a bid to cause undue delay in the appointments thereby frustrating peoples' right to information. No reasons have been furnished by the respondent as to why four vacancies were not filled pursuant to the advertisement dated December 12, 2019 and the order of this Court dated December 16, 2019...," it added. The application was filed in the already pending petition on the same issue. (ANI)

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