After RTI Activist Flags Vacancies In Information Commissions, Supreme Court Seeks Data From Centre & States On CIC/SICs

The Supreme Court today called on the Centre and states to furnish data regarding vacancies in Central/State Information Commissions as well as the proposed timelines for appointment of Information Commissioners thereto.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan passed the order in a PIL raising the issue of large number of vacancies in information commissions set up under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appeared for the petitioners and submitted that despite the Court's 2019 judgment in Anjali Bhardwaj and Ors v. Union of India, as well as multiple other orders passed, the vacancies in Central Information Commission (CIC) and several State Information Commissions (SICs) have not been filled.

He highlighted that in case of CIC, as on 11.11.2024, only 3 posts were filled while 8 were vacant. "They are virtually destroying the Right to Information Act, by freezing the process of independent appeal. The whole object of creating information commissions was that these are supposed to be independent people outside the government, who will decide these appeals in a time-bound manner" Bhushan said.

Insofar as the states, the counsel informed that:

- Maharashtra SIC has 7 vacant posts

- Jharkhand SIC has been defunct since May 2020

- Tripura SIC has been defunct since July 2021

- Telangana SIC has been defunct since February 2023

Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and Karnataka SICs were also stated to have vacant posts (in the range of 1-8).

Additional Solicitor General Brijendra Chahar, for the Union, submitted in connection with CIC that 4 commissioners were set to retire in November, 2023. As such, fresh appointments were made. He sought time to file an updated compliance report, as the last report on record was of November, 2023. The request was allowed, with a direction that the status report shall specify steps taken by the competent authority to fill the 8 (out of 11) vacant posts in CIC.

Counsel for Telangana informed that the requisite notification was issued in June, 2024 and the Appointments Committee was constituted in July. The Court directed the state to file an affidavit in 2 weeks, explaining how soon the appointments will be made.

Counsel for Jharkhand, on the other hand, submitted that there was a lack of requisite quorum in the selection committee, and as such, the appointments could not be made. Without commenting on the reason, the Court directed Chief Secretary, Jharkhand to ensure that process to appoint the information commissioners is initiated within 4 weeks and a compliance affidavit is filed.

Counsel for Tripura also submitted that the selection process is going on. As such, the Court directed Tripura to file a similar affidavit, giving the timeline within which appointments shall be made.

At this point, Bhushan urged that the direction to fill-up vacancies may be extended to all states. Accordingly, the Court extended its order to Chief Secretaries of all states, who shall submit status reports in 2 weeks, indicating the total number of posts in respective SICs as well as the number of posts lying vacant. "They shall also undertake the time within which the selection process will be initiated and posts will be filled", the court added.

Before parting, Justice Kant conveyed to state counsels, "if you have started the selection process, give us the timeline. If you have not started, do it immediately".

Notably, during a 2023 hearing, the Court expressed dissatisfaction with the states and the Union over their failure to fill up the vacancies in Information Commissions. "The failure of the State governments to fill posts of Information Commissioners defeats the purpose of the RTI Act and affects the right of information which becomes a 'dead letter' if vacancies are not filled up", it said.

Case Title: ANJALI BHARDWAJ AND ORS. Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., MA 1979/2019 in W.P.(C) No. 436/2018