The three vacations will be Summer, Diwali and Christmas.
The state information commission has given itself three vacations in a year. The decision and its criticism has come to light at a time when the judiciary, with which the commission is generally compared to, is talking about reducing its vacation.
State chief information commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad has issued a circular dated March 11, mentioning vacations for all benches of the commission, including his own bench. The three vacations were – summer vacation from May 9 to June 5, Diwali vacation from October 28 to November 6 and Christmas vacation from December 25 to January 1. Fuming activists are now questioning why the commission was thinking of vacations when over 30,000 hearings were pending.
The vacations will not include the days on which the commissioners get weekly offs, public holidays that do not fall in their vacation and other leave period. Information commissioners, who get all the benefits as per the All India Service rules, are entitled to three kinds of leaves otherwise – earned leave or paid leave of 30 days, half-pay or sick leave of 15 days and casual leave of 8 days.
"The order is bad in law and comes at a time when over 30,000 hearings are pending at the commission. Tomorrow, they will declare other benefits for themselves as well," said activist Vijay Kumbhar, who has written a letter to the governor to cancel the order.
When dna contacted Gaikwad, he defended the decision. He said in an SMS reply, "The decision to introduce vacations for court hearings on the lines of Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) and other state information commissions, was taken by the commission unanimously. Our disposal of appeals is the highest in the country. Though no norms have been fixed, efforts are made to dispose around 400 cases per month. The central information commission's rate is nearly 250. Vacation to courts and pendency of cases are not correlated. Last year also we had a court vacation, as decided by the commission."
Meanwhile, former central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said, "Since we have a tradition of courts taking vacations, it will be difficult to grudge this to the commissions."
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "dna logo"){kind=logo}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}