Supreme Court seeks report from Center and states on recruitment of Information Commissioners

The Supreme Court has asked the Center and the states to inform within four weeks the status of the recruitment of Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions. The top court has also called for a report from the Center and the states regarding the compliance of the order of the year 2019 regarding the recruitment of information commissioners.

Justice S. A bench headed by Abdul Nazeer observed that the last status report was filed by the central government a year ago. Therefore, the bench directed Additional Solicitor General Madhavi Divan, appearing for the Central Government, to file a status report again and inform about the present status of the appointments and the steps being taken for the recruitment. In the 2019 order, the Supreme Court had said that the process of appointment should start two months before the post of Information Commissioners becomes vacant. At the same time, the search committee should consider appointing eminent people from various fields besides bureaucrats as information commissioners. The Supreme Court is hearing a petition filed by RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj. The next hearing will be held after four weeks.