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NCPRI writes to PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi over vacancies in information commissions
NCPRI has also written to chief ministers and leaders of opposition of 12 states on filling vacancies in their respective State Information Commissions.
The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leader of opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi expressing concern over the appointment of information commissioners to the Central Information Commission (CIC).
Both the PM and LoP are members of the selection committee established under the RTI Act.
NCPRI has also written to chief ministers and leaders of opposition of 12 states on filling vacancies in their respective State Information Commissions (SICs). Five SICs are currently non-operational: Jharkhand since May 2020, Telangana since February 24, 2023, Tripura since July 13, 2021, Madhya Pradesh since March 28, 2024, and Goa since March 1, 2024.
Several other commissions are facing significant challenges due to vacant posts and large backlogs. The CIC operates with three commissioners and has a backlog of nearly 23,000 cases.
The Karnataka SIC has three commissioners without a chief and a backlog exceeding 40,000 cases. The Bihar SIC, with two commissioners, has about 28,000 pending cases. The Chhattisgarh SIC, also with two commissioners, has a backlog of nearly 17,500 cases. The Rajasthan SIC is functioning with one commissioner and has a backlog of around 9,000 cases. The Maharashtra SIC, with six commissioners, has a backlog of more than 107,000 cases. The Punjab SIC is operating with one commissioner and has nearly 9,000 cases pending, while the West Bengal SIC, with two commissioners, has a backlog of over 10,000 cases.
The letter also refers to an October 2023 Supreme Court order that criticised the failure of state governments to fill vacancies, noting that this “ensures that the right to information which is recognised under an Act of Parliament becomes a dead letter”.
The court instructed both state and Union governments to “immediately take steps for filling up the vacancies in the posts of Information Commissioners in the SICs and CIC respectively”.
The letter’s signatories include former CIC Shailesh Gandhi and RTI activists Anjali Bharadwaj, Nikhil Dey, and Venkatesh Nayak, among others.
