Govt seeks review of apex court order

The government on Thursday moved the Supreme Court (SC) to seek a review of its September 12 verdict, which had made it mandatory for sitting or retired chief justices of high courts — or a SC judge — to be appointed as heads of central and state information commissions.

The government on Thursday moved the Supreme Court (SC) to seek a review of its September 12 verdict, which had made it mandatory for sitting or retired chief justices of high courts — or a SC judge — to be appointed as heads of central and state information commissions.

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The Centre sought a relook into the verdict, stating that the direction was against the provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

In its verdict, the SC had declared that like other quasi-judicial bodies, people with a judicial background should be appointed as members of the central and state commissions. The judicial appointments, it said, should be done after consulting the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and Chief Justice of the respective high courts. It had recommended amendment of the RTI Act to incorporate the changes.

At present, none of the eight CIC members have a judicial background.