Vacancies in Information Commission | Day 3: No movement by states in filling vacancies, petitioners argue
Vacancies in Information CommissionsJudges: Surya Kant CJI, Joymalya Bagchi J
Today, a Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi sought compliance reports from all states, directing them to set out details of the steps taken to fill vacancies in their respective Information Commissions.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared for lead petitioner Anjali Bharadwaj. He pushed for the Court to summon the Secretary of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), remarking that “nothing is moving”.
Additional Solicitor General K.M. General submitted that the appointments to the Central Information Commission are in progress.
CJI Surya Kant: Court still confident about vacancies being filled
Bhushan argued that the continuing delay in filling vacancies amounts to treating the Court in “contempt”. He urged the Court to summon the DoPT secretary, if there is no progress before the next date of hearing.
Bhushan pointed out that the state commissions in Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh are defunct, while Chhattisgarh had only one commissioner. He also noted that an affidavit filed by Maharashtra refused to increase the sanctioned strength of the state commission from eight to 11. Similarly, he claimed that Madhya Pradesh had seven vacancies and is unwilling to fill them. A counsel for Madhya Pradesh was quick to dispute this assertion.
CJI Surya Kant stated that the Court was “still confident that something will happen”, and listed the matter in two weeks.