A day after the apex court ruled that only judges should head information commissions, CIC decided to continue with “business as usual” in conducting hearings.
A day after the apex court ruled that only judges should head information commissions, the Central Information Commission (CIC) on Friday decided to continue with “business as usual” in conducting hearings. The Right to Information (RTI) activists, however, are a worried lot with some even thinking of approaching court for its review.
On Thursday, SC ruled that information commissions would be headed by retired high court judges and the central panel would be led by a retired judge of the top court. The apex court also ruled for several other changes in the functioning of info panels and the RTI Act. To discuss the same, an emergency meeting of the CIC was convened on Friday morning.
“It is for the government to either follow the SC order or go for a review. At CIC, hearings will continue like earlier. It would be ‘business as usual’ for us,” an information commissioner, who attended the meeting, told DNA.
Meanwhile, activists fear that if SC’s ruling is implemented as it is, it would result in adding more complexities to the RTI Act even as efforts are on to iron out old flaws.
“There are several grey areas in the SC judgement and we would wait for government’s reaction over it. We would also discuss the matter among activists and if needed we would approach court for its review,” Venkatesh Nayak of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) told DNA.
“In India, the RTI Act is already facing a lot of complications. Even those have not been ironed out. The judgement will bring new set of complexities,” Nayak said.
Retired Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court AP Shah was also not very encouraged by the verdict. “I am not against bringing in more judges but to make their appointment mandatory is not the best solution. Why not invite people with rich experience in public life for the post?” said Shah, who during his tenure given the historical ruling that the office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) comes within the ambit of the RTI Act.
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