Transparency watchdog Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) has reminded the Prime Minister and the leader of the Opposition about the urgent need to appoint a central information commissioner and eight information commissioners under him.

Previous CIC Heeralal Samaroya retired on September 13, and the eight other posts are vacant since November 2023.

The NGO said in its letter — addressed to the recipients in their capacity as members of the selection committee — that "the backlog of appeals/ complaints has been increasing and is now nearly 30,000".

SNS functionaries Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri pointed out in the letter: "It is a matter of grave concern that in the appointment process currently underway, the names of applicants, short-listed candidates and the short-listing criteria have not been placed in the public domain."

They added: "On January 7, 2025, while hearing the matter related to vacant posts in information commissions across the country, the Supreme Court gave specific and time-bound directions to the central and state governments to make appointments of adequate number of commissioners. The SC directed the Joint Secretary of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to file an affidavit giving the timeline within which the selection process will be completed and directed disclosure of the names of Search Committee members and the list of candidates who had applied. The Court also directed that the affidavit should specify that candidates who did not apply in response to the advertisement shall not be offered appointments."

The letter recounted: "In November 2020, a candidate who had not applied in response to the advertisement was shortlisted and appointed in a completely arbitrary manner. The then leader of the single largest group in Opposition (Mr Adhir Ranjan Chaudhury), who was a member of the selection committee, gave a detailed dissent note highlighting the arbitrary manner of shortlisting and selection that was followed.

"In November 2023, when the Chief and two ICs were appointed, the selections were made only by the PM and a Union Cabinet Minister, without the leader of Opposition, in flagrant violation of the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005. There is no provision in the RTI Act which allows for a truncated selection committee to make appointments (unlike the Lokpal, wherein there is a specific clause saying that no appointment shall be invalid merely due to absence/vacancy in the selection committee)."

In a report to mark the 20th anniversary of the RTI Act earlier this month, the SNS found that "two of India’s 29 information commissions are defunct, three are functioning without a chief, and 18 have a waiting list of more than a year".