No new appointments have been made to the Central Information Commission since 2016.
New Delhi: From Monday, the Central Information Commission (CIC) will function with only three commissioners – as opposed to a sanctioned strength of 11, including the chief. The present crisis has arisen because the Narendra Modi government has since 2016 failed to fill any vacancies in the body – probably because the commission has been at the forefront of issuing orders inconvenient to the ruling BJP.
Be it asking Delhi University to disclose the details of Modi’s degree or asking the Centre to reveal details about demonetisation or pulling up the Reserve Bank of India for its refusal to disclose details about the big loan defaulters, the panel’s actions have often caused discomfiture to the government and autonomous institutions.
The CIC plays an important role in ensuring compliance with the Right to Information Act, 2005 by concerned public authorities. It takes up appeals of non-compliance and denial of information. It also has powers to impose a penalty of up to Rs 25,000 on public information officers for refusal to provide information.
The panel – for the third time under the present regime – will also be functioning without a chief information commissioner. R.K. Mathur, who until recently held the post, retired on November 24. Apart from him, the term of information commissioners Yashovardhan Azad and M. Sridhar Acharyulu ended on November 21 while Amitava Bhattacharya’s term expired on December 1.
The CIC has now been left with just three information commissioners – Sudhir Bhargava, Bimal Julka and Divya Prakash Sinha.
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