Telangana High Court Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan on Tuesday observed that the affidavit filed by Chief Secretary in response to a PIL petition seeking appointment of Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners was “as vague as it can be”.
The CJ, along with Justice N. Tukaramji, was hearing the plea filed by Forum for Good Governance. The CS stated in the affidavit that the file pertaining to appointment of CIC and ICs was under the active consideration of the competent authority.
However, the affidavit did not explain when was the proposal presented, to whom was it submitted and what was the stage of the file. Responding to observations of the CJ, the government counsel said staff members of the Information Commission were attending to the queries and grievances of the information seekers on a regular basis.
“But who was passing orders on the appeals filed by the citizens seeking details of any matter under RTI Act since there was no CIC and other ICs,” the CJ sough to know. The bench headed by the CJ instructed the government to apprise it of the steps taken for appointment of the CIC and ICs by July 5.
The FGG represented by its secretary M. Padmanabha Reddy explained to the HC that the top posts were not filled in the Information Commission of Telangana State for three years since its formation in 2014. The FGG filed a PIL petition in 2017 on the matter following which the government appointed CIC and five ICs.
Though the CIC and ICs eventually demitted office on August 24, 2020 and February 24, 2020 respectively, the posts remained vacant since then. Nearly 9,200 appeals were pending in the Information Commission as on February 25, 2023, it said.
