India’s Information Commissions Must Meet their Full Potential: CHRI
STUDY
10 May,
2012
On
the eve of the seventh anniversary of the passage of the Right to Information
Act (RTI Act) in Parliament (12 May, 2012), Commonwealth Human Rights
Initiative (CHRI) has released a study that takes stock of the functioning of
the Information Commissions established under it. On this occasion CHRI has
published: ‘A
Rapid Study of Information Commissions--Established Under the Right to
Information Laws in India Jammu and
Kashmir
The findings show that Information Commissions in India
30% of the posts of Information Commissioners around the country are
lying vacant (as on 01 May 2012). This includes posts of State Chief Information
Commissioner posts in Maharashtra , Manipur and
Tripura. Only 83 Information Commissioners and Chief Information Commissioners
have been appointed against 117 posts all over the country. The State
Information Commissions of Jharkhand (six), Tamil Nadu (four) Andhra Pradesh,
Arunachal Pradesh Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh (three each) top the vacancy
list.
In 2006-07 a little more than half of the posts in Information
Commissions were occupied by retired civil servants. In 2012 two thirds of these
posts have been cornered by retired civil servants, particularly those from the
Indian Administrative Service (IAS). The case of Haryana is even more
interesting as 50% of the membership of the Haryana State Information
Commission is made up of a husband and wife team that retired from the IAS. The
J&K State Information Commission is the only multi-member body to buck the
trend of having retired IAS officers on board.
Less than 10% of the Information Commissioners are from the field of
journalism and mass media. Governments seem reluctant to trust the eminence and
expertise of citizens who have never been civil servants in their lives.
Of serious concern is the fact that three Information Commissioners
served as members of political parties prior to their appointment (in Kerala,
Nagaland and Punjab ). The RTI Act bars members
of the Information Commissions from being affiliated to political parties. It is
not known whether they resigned from the primary membership of the political
party before taking on their current jobs.
All Information Commissions except that of Mizoram have dedicated
websites but less than 50% of the, have uploaded their decisions in appeals and
complaints cases disposed till date.
Similarly more than 50% of the State Information Commissions do not
display the cause list of cases on their websites. Section 25 of the Central RTI
Act makes it mandatory for Information Commissions to prepare annual reports on
the implementation of the law in their jurisdiction. The State Information
Commissions of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram , Sikkim
While underlining the need for governments at the Central and State level
to work closely with advocators of transparency to assess the pendency of cases
in the Information Commissions, Ms. Maja Daruwala, Director, CHRI stated: “The
size of the Information Commission should be determined on the basis of
objective criteria”. She also stated: “Public access to all decisions of
Information Commissions must become the policy instead of being left to the
caprice of the Information Commissioners”
Mr Venkatesh Nayak, Programme Coordinator, Access to Information
Programme, who led the CHRI research team stated: “Governments and civil society
must work together to identify objective criteria for determining the
suitability of candidates other than retired civil servants for appointment to
the Information Commissions. The RTI Act intended to provide a diversity of life
experience to such bodies from the fields of science, technology, law,
management, social service and mass media whereas practice has turned them into
parking lots for retired civil servants who are sympathetic to the political
establishment.”
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