RTI Court Decision: Appoint people with judicial background to CIC: SC

[akhilesh yadav]

Appoint people with judicial background to CIC: SC

Reported PTI in hindustantimes.com on 13 Sep 2012
Appoint people with judicial background to CIC: SC - Hindustan Times

Holding that central and state information commissions perform quasi-judicial functions, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the government to appoint people from judicial background also as its members.

A bench of justices AK Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar also lifted the stay on appointment of information commissioners.The bench passed the order on a PIL challenging section 12 and 15 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 enumerating the qualifications needed for the appointment of members to the commissions

The bench, however, refused to quash the sections but asked the government to modify it so that people from judicial background are also preferred for the post.

Currently, none of the eight members of the central information commission (CIC), including the chief information commissioner are from judicial background.

The CIC comprises one chief information commissioner and 10 information commissioners.

Presently, three posts of information commissioners are vacant in the CIC.

The petition filed by one Namit Sharma had contended that since the work of the CIC under the RTI Act is mainly connected with the law, members in the transparency panel should have judicial background.

However, government had opposed the petition contending that it could not be made mandatory that the members should have judicial background.

[karira]

Sponsorer

The SC judgement is available here: SC Judgement on appointment of ICs - Downloads - RTI INDIA- Right to Information

The Discussion thread is here: Discussion on SC judgement regarding appointments to CIC/SIC

[Sajib Nandi]

Reported by Hindustantimes.com on September 14, 2012
Judges

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that central and state information commissions must appoint high court chief justices or Supreme Court judges — sitting or retired — as chairpersons, inviting criticism from activists and legal experts. “The information commissions shall henceforth work in benches of two members each — a judicial member and an expert member,” said a bench of justice AK Patnaik and justice S Kumar. The RTI Act should be amended quickly to avoid “ambiguity”, it said.

The Central Information Commission (CIC), the watchdog that oversees implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, decided to stop work soon after, a source said. A similar situation could arise in the states.

The CIC will now seek the government’s legal opinion. Chief information commissioner Satyananda Mishra said the SC order would be discussed on Friday.

Till August this year, the CIC had more over 17,000 pending cases. It means a wait of at least three months to get an RTI appeal heard.

“The first disastrous effect of the order is that all (RTI) hearings will have to stop till the judicial members are appointed,” said Shekhar Singh, who was involved in the drafting of the RTI law.

RTI activist SC Aggarwal said: “The culture of adjournments widely prevalent in the judiciary should not spread to the CIC and state commissions.”

Advocate Prashant Bhushan said the court didn’t address the lack of transparency in appointment of information commissioners.

The ruling creates 168 post-retirement opportunities for judges as all posts of chief information commissioners and half the posts of information commissioners will go to judicial members.

[digal]

AS reported by timesofindia.indiatimes.com on Sep 13, 2012, 12.36PM IST

Appoint people with judicial background to CIC: Supreme Court - The Times of India


NEW DELHI: Holding that central and state information commissions perform quasi-judicial functions, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the government to appoint people from judicial background also as its members.


A bench of justices A K Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar also lifted the stay on appointment of information commissioners.

The bench passed the order on a PIL challenging section 12 and 15 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 enumerating the qualifications needed for the appointment of members to the commissions.

The bench, however, refused to quash the sections but asked the government to modify it so that people from judicial background are also preferred for the post.


Currently, none of the eight members of the Central Information Commission (CIC), including the chief information commissioner are from judicial background.


The CIC comprises one chief information commissioner and 10 information commissioners.

Presently, three posts of information commissioners are vacant in the CIC.

The petition filed by one Namit Sharma had contended that since the work of the CIC under the RTI Act is mainly connected with the law, members in the transparency panel should have judicial background.


However, government had opposed the petition contending that it could not be made mandatory that the members should have judicial background.

[ambrish.p]

As reported in Dainik Jagran on 14/09/12

http://in.jagran.yahoo.com/epaper/ar...50018532471412

जज बनेंगे मुख्य सूचना आयुक्त

ठ्ठ जागरण ब्यूरो, नई दिल्ली सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने कहा है कि राज्य और केंद्रीय सूचना आयोग में मुख्य सूचना आयुक्त सिर्फ हाईकोर्ट के वर्तमान या सेवानिवृत्त मुख्य न्यायाधीश अथवा सुप्रीम कोर्ट के न्यायाधीश नियुक्त किए जाएं। यह भी कहा है कि राज्य और केंद्र के सूचना आयोग दो सदस्यीय खंडपीठ के तौर पर काम करेंगे, जिसका एक सदस्य न्यायिक और दूसरा विशेषज्ञ होगा। सुप्रीम कोर्ट के इस फैसले के बाद राज्यों और केंद्रीय सूचना आयोग में बड़े पैमाने पर बदलाव संभव है। हालांकि कोर्ट ने साफ किया है कि उनका यह फैसला आगे से (प्रोस्पेक्टिवली) लागू होगा। न्यायमूर्ति एके पटनायक व स्वतंत्र कुमार की पीठ ने सूचना के अधिकार कानून में मुख्य सूचना आयुक्त और सदस्यों के नियुक्ति प्रावधानों को चुनौती देने वाली नमित शर्मा की याचिका का निपटारा करते हुए गुरुवार को यह महत्वपूर्ण फैसला सुनाया। पीठ ने कानूनी प्रावधानों को संवैधानिक ठहराते हुए कहा, उन्हें सही संदर्भ में समझे जाने की जरूरत है। कानूनी योग्यता ,न्यायिक प्रशिक्षण रखने वाला अनुभवी व्यक्ति आयोग में अच्छे और प्रभावी ढंग से काम करेगा, जिससे लोगों में आयोग के कामकाज के प्रति विश्वास बढ़ेगा। कोर्ट ने विधायिका से सूचना अधिकार कानून की धारा 12(5), 12(6) और 15(5) व 15 (6) में यथाशीघ्र बदलाव की सिफारिश करते हुए कहा, इन धाराओं को संविधान सम्मत बनाया जाए ताकि भ्रम की स्थिति न रहे। पीठ ने केंद्र सरकार को छह माह के भीतर आयोग के काम काज के बारे में नियम कायदे बनाने का निर्देश दिया है। शीर्ष अदालत ने अपने फैसले में कहा है कि सूचना कानून में प्रथम अपीलीय अधिकारी के चयन में कानून की डिग्री रखने वाले या कानून के क्षेत्र में विशेष ज्ञान रखने वाले को वरीयता दी जानी चाहिए। राज्य व केंद्रीय सूचना आयोग दो सदस्यीय खंडपीठ के रूप में मामलों की सुनवाई करेंगे। खंडपीठ के न्यायिक सदस्य के पास कानून की डिग्री होगी चाहिए और उसके पास न्यायिक कार्य का अनुभव होना चाहिए। विधि अधिकारी या वकील भी योग्य उम्मीदवार हो सकता है लेकिन उसके पास कम से कम बीस साल वकालत का अनुभव होना चाहिए। पीठ ने कहा है कि उनका मानना है कि सूचना आयुक्त (सदस्य) नियुक्त करते समय हाईकोर्ट के वर्तमान या सेवानिवृत जज को प्राथमिकता दी जानी चाहिए। हालांकि कोर्ट ने साफ किया है कि राज्य व केंद्र में मुख्य सूचना आयुक्त सिर्फ हाईकोर्ट के वर्तमान या सेवानिवृत मुख्य न्यायाधीश अथवा सुप्रीम कोर्ट के न्यायाधीश ही नियुक्त किये जाएंगे। इन सभी न्यायिक सदस्यों की नियुक्ति भारत के मुख्य न्यायाधीश और राज्यों में हाईकोर्ट के मुख्य न्यायाधीश के परामर्श से की जाएगी। नियुक्ति पद रिक्त होने से तीन माह पहले कर दी जाएगी और नियुक्ति में पारदर्शी और निष्पक्ष प्रक्रिया अपनाई जाएगी।