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Journalism of Courage
The Supreme Court has asked the government not to appoint any more information commissioners in the Central Information Commission till it decides on a plea to make it mandatory for the transparency body to only have members from a judicial background.
The court also stayed its order on the plea.
At present,there are three vacant posts of information commissioners.
The plea contests the validity of Sections 12 and 15 of the Right to Information Act dealing with the appointment of the Chief Information Commissioner and 10 other information commissioners in the CIC,besides appointment of state information commissioners.
According to petitioner Namit Sharma,since the work of the CIC mainly deals with law,CIC members should either be judicial officers or persons with a legal background.
The nature of the functions of the members of the commission is basically quasi-judicial in nature, said the counsel,also asking for a directive to make it mandatory for the government to consult the Chief Justice of India before making such appointments.
Additional Solicitor General A S Chandhiok countered this arguing that information commissioners did not adjudicate any legal dispute between parties and merely exercised authority in accordance with a society-oriented law,that is the RTI.
