HC asks Rajasthan government to appoint information commissioners in 10 days
16 Feb, 2014A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Rajasthan High Court seeking court’s intervention in the appointment of information commissioners in the state.
The petitioner, Surendra Jain, pointed out that the Rajasthan state information commission currently consists of only a chief information commissioner and no other information commissioners. It also mentioned that Rajasthan is the only state where the SIC is working only with a Chief Information Commissioner and all the nine posts of information commissioners are lying vacant.
During the hearing of the case the court asked the additional advocate general the time required to fill the vacancies in the SIC for which the additional advocate general assured that the appointments would be made in 10 days. A division bench comprising Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Banwari Lal Sharma of the HC, showing displeasure over the state’s inaction, has directed the government that appointments of information commissioners be made within 10 days and has asked it to file an action taken report in the court.
It is noteworthy that the number of pending second appeals in the state has risen to around 10,000.