NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre and the states to take immediate steps to fill up vacancies in the Central Information Commission and the state information commissions. “The Right to Information Act of 2005 will become ‘dead letter’ if vacancies are not filled up,” the apex court observed.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra also asked the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to collect information from all states on several aspects including the sanctioned strength of SICs, vacancies and the total number of pending cases there.
The bench took note of the submission that SICs in states like Jharkhand, Tripura and Telangana have become defunct. It granted states and the Centre three weeks to furnish the information.
The Court was hearing a plea filed by RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj. Bhardwaj alleged the apex court’s 2019 judgment on issues including timely filling up of vacancies in the CIC and SICs have not been followed by the Centre and states.
(With inputs from agencies)
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra also asked the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to collect information from all states on several aspects including the sanctioned strength of SICs, vacancies and the total number of pending cases there.
The bench took note of the submission that SICs in states like Jharkhand, Tripura and Telangana have become defunct. It granted states and the Centre three weeks to furnish the information.
The Court was hearing a plea filed by RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj. Bhardwaj alleged the apex court’s 2019 judgment on issues including timely filling up of vacancies in the CIC and SICs have not been followed by the Centre and states.
(With inputs from agencies)