The Supreme Court has posted for hearing on October 27 the issue relating to the non-appointment of information commissioners in the Central Information Commission, including its chief commissioner, and in the Jharkhand office.
The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi agreed to list the matter for hearing on October 27, following a request from advocate Prashant Bhushan, who complained about the alleged non-appointment of information commissioners despite assurances by the Centre and Jharkhand state.
The petition relating to non-filling of the posts in the CIC and various state information commissions, which has defeated the purpose of the Right to Information Act, was jointly filed by activists Anjali Bhardwaj, Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd) and Amrita Johri.
Bhushan told the bench that even the CIC, the apex body, is without a chief information commissioner and out of 10 posts of information commissioners, eight
are vacant.
He told the court that at the last hearing on January 7, the top court had directed the Centre to file an affidavit, indicating the timeline for completing the appointment process for the eight vacancies which had been advertised in August 2024.
The government, in its affidavit, had indicated that the appointment process will be completed within three months i.e. by April 2025.
However, no appointments have been made, Bhushan told the court.