PM Modi, Amit Shah And Rahul Gandhi To Sit Together Over Appointment Of Chief Information Commissioner

Central Information Commission: Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday for the appointment of the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), News18 reported, quoting sources. The trio will also discuss the appointment of information commissioners for eight vacant positions at the CIC.

Under Section 12 (3) of the Right to Information Act, the prime minister is the chairperson of the committee, which also comprises the leader of opposition and a Union minister nominated by the prime minister, that selects and recommends the names for appointment as Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners. Gandhi, his speech in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, asserted that he had “no voice in such meetings because the ratio is 2:1".

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PM-Led Panel To Select CIC: Centre Tells SC

Earlier o,n December 1, the Centre informed the Supreme Court that PM Modi-led panel will meet on December 10 to select and recommend names for the post of Chief Information Commissioner and information commissioners of the Central Information Commission (CIC).

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice JoymalyaBagchi, which was hearing a plea seeking filling of vacant posts of CIC and state information commissions (SICs), was told by Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, that the meeting has been fixed and notice for it has been sent to the members of the panel.

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The top court recorded the submission of the ASG and deferred the hearing on the plea. It asked the chief secretaries of all the states to submit details of the total strength of SICs, vacant posts in SICs and number of appeals and complaints pending before the commissions.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioners including Anjali Bhardwaj and others, said that the government has not filled the vacant posts, which is resulting in piling of cases before the commissions. He said that some states have made two to three appointments and are saying they don't need to fill all the posts, as they have sufficient strength of members to deal with the pendency of cases.

(With PTI inputs)