No full-time information commissioner for Maharashtra despite assurance to Bombay HC
On December 13, Maharashtra government during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) at the Bombay High Court had informed the court to fill the vacant posts by February first week.
3 min read
Maharashtra has no full-time state chief information commissioner from April 13, 2023. (X)Despite the state government’s assurance to the Bombay High court to fill all the vacancies in the state information commission and to appoint a full-time state chief information commissioner in the first week of February, the state has failed to make the appointment and are now facing the inevitability of contempt of court proceedings.
Maharashtra has no full-time state chief information commissioner from April 13, 2023. Sunil Porwal was handling the additional charge till December 15, 2023. After his retirement, Samir Sahai who is the state information commissioner of Pune division, is handling the additional charge of the top post. In addition, out of seven state information commissioners – one with each of the revenue divisions of the state – four posts are vacant and are being distributed as an additional responsibility to three existing state information commissioners.
The state presently has only three information commissioners. Sahai, apart from handling the additional charge as state chief information commissioner also has an additional charge of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Mumbai divisions. Rahul Pande is a state information commissioner of Nagpur division and is additionally in charge of Amravati division. Bhupendra Gurav is a state information commissioner of Nashik division and has an additional charge of the Konkan division.
On December 13, Maharashtra government during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) at the Bombay High Court had informed the court to fill the vacant posts by February first week. “Learned Additional Government Pleader, on the basis of instructions, states that all the vacancies in the State Information Commission, including the office of the Chief Information Commissioner, shall be filled in by the first week of February 2024. We, thus, hope and trust that the vacancies in the Commission shall be filled in accordingly by the first week of February 2024,” the court order stated. The PIL was filed by former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi and other activists working in the field.
“Our PIL was about the effective functioning of the state information commission and preparation of a road map for the speedy disposal of second appeals within 45 days. As a part of the measures, the state had informed the court that the appointments will take place in the first week of February. No such action has yet been taken,” said Vijay Kumbhar, one of the petitioners from Pune. The next hearing of the case is on March 6, 2024.
Kumbhar has also written to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Chief Secretary Nitin Kareer highlighting the court order and pointing out that it will be in contempt of court in case no action is taken.
Sources within the Chief Minister’s office said that a meeting regarding these appointments was planned on January 31. “The meeting however did not take place and was cancelled for reasons unknown to us,” said an official from the CMO. A message to Kareer seeking his reply went unanswered.
You May Like
