The Central Information Commission is once again headless as no one has been appointed yet to the top post after chief information commissioner Heeralal Samariya retired on September 13.
This is the seventh time in 11 years that the commission has been functioning without the chief commissioner, transparency activists said.
Samariya retired upon attaining the age of 65. He held the top post from November 6, 2023, to September 13 this year. Before Samariya, the post lay vacant for a month after Y.K. Singh’s retirement.
The CIC, an appellate authority in matters related to the Right to Information Act, had no chief for the first time in August 2014 after its then boss Rajiv Mathur retired.
In each of the seven times that the post of the chief fell vacant, it was on account of retirements — with the incumbent either turning 65 or completing their stipulated tenure — said Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri, transparency activists associated with the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information and Satark Nagrik Sangathan, respectively. “In each case, the date of demitting office was known since the time they were appointed, and despite that, the government failed to make appointments on time,” Bhardwaj said.
Wajahat Habibullah, former chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities and the first chief information commissioner, said: “The government should go ahead and appoint the information commissioner without any further delay.” He questioned why a new commissioner had not been appointed yet although the date of Samariya’s retirement was no secret.
Habibullah said that without a chief commissioner, the CIC lacks legal authenticity. He suggested that one of the existing commissioners can be promoted to the top post.
The Centre had issued an ad on May 21 inviting applications for the post of the chief information commissioner.The deadline to accept applications was June 30.