The Bill states that terms of service will be “as may be prescribed” by the government.Six former information commissioners, including Wajahat Habibullah, the first Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), on Wednesday criticised the Central government’s move to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005.
The Bill, passed by Lok Sabha on June 22, allows the government to set salaries and service conditions of information commissioners at the Central and state levels through an order.
Calling the amendment “expropriation of the Central Information Commission”, Habibullah said, “The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that RTI is part of the fundamental right to free speech. It is absurd to say that the office of CIC does not have constitutional status.”
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Yashovardhan Azad, former information commissioner, questioned the government’s hurry in amending the law without holding public consultations. “There is no clarity on how the government plans to fix salaries and tenures. Will different commissioners have different terms of service, and can they be changed after appointment,” he asked.
The Bill states that terms of service will be “as may be prescribed” by the government.
At present, information commissioners hold office for a fixed tenure of five years, or till they turn 65 years, whichever is earlier. These officers also cannot be removed from their posts except on grounds of moral turpitude or insanity.
Former CIC Deepak Sandhu recalled that in 2017, the Modi government had increased salaries of heads of 19 statutory bodies, including the Central Vigilance Commission and the Armed Forces Tribunal in a bid to bring parity. She argued that the same can be done in the case of CIC instead of shrinking powers of the information commissioners.
“The government laid out incorrect facts in Parliament. A decision of the CIC is final and cannot be appealed against in any court,” Shailesh Gandhi said, referring to Union minister Jitendra Singh’s speech while introducing the Bill in Lok Sabha last week. Singh had said that since decisions of the CIC are open to challenge in High Courts, the post cannot be equated with that of a Supreme Court judge .
Under RTI Act, the CIC’s decision is final and no appeal lies against it. However, orders of information commissioners are subjected to judicial review through writ petitions before High Courts and the Supreme Court – like any other executive order.
“Independence of an institution lies in continuity and certainty in terms of service,” former information commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu said.
“The proposed amendment is also an attack on federalism. How can the Central government, through an order, regulate salaries for state information commissioners, which are paid by state governments,” he asked. Acharyulu also criticised the government’s stand that CIC is only a statutory body and not a constitutional body.
