On the eve of a committee meeting to appoint the new Central Information Commissioners (CIC), former Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu wrote to the President to ensure that the Commission is insulated from government insurance.
The selection committee headed by the Prime Minister is scheduled to meet on December 11, the Centre reportedly told the Supreme Court at its last hearing on filling vacancies in the Central Information Commission (CIC). The 11-member CIC, which is the highest appeal body under the RTI Act, currently has eight vacancies, and is functioning without any Chief.
“The Government shall ensure that it will not interfere in the functioning of the Central Information Commission and also to insulate the Office of Chief Information Commissioner or individual commissioner from direct or indirect pressures or interferences from any of its offices, such as the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) or the DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training),” wrote Mr. Acharyulu in his letter to President Ram Nath Kovind. He added that to ensure complete independence, the Centre should not prescribe the term, status and salary of the new Commissioners, as proposed in an amendment to the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Mr. Acharyulu completed his term at the CIC last month, and has been outspoken in his opposition to the proposed amendments to the RTI Act. In an earlier letter to the President, he had also alleged that both Central and State governments have been using litigation to intimidate Commissioners.
Pointing out that all previous CIC Chiefs had been retired bureaucrats, Mr. Acharyulu suggested that the new CIC head should instead be drawn from a different field, such as law, science, technology, social service, management, journalism or mass media, as provided for under the RTI Act.