New Delhi, January 7, 2025, Special Correspondent

New Delhi, January 7: In a stark observation, the Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that the state information commissions in Tripura and certain other states have virtually ceased to exist as there were no more information commissioners

While the Supreme Court directed the Center to fill vacancies immediately, it negatively viewed the vacancies in the Central Information Commission and state information commissions and called for expeditious selection of information officers in the CIC.

“These vacancies need to be filled as soon as possible, otherwise there is no point in having the institution if we do not have people to work,” a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh told the Centre.

The bench directed other states having vacancies in their respective commissions to notify the list of candidates within a week, apart from the composition of the selection committee, criteria for selection of candidates and schedule for conducting interview and appointments.

On November 26, 2024, the bench took a stern stand on the matter and asked the Center and states to inform it about the steps taken to fill the vacancies.

It directed the permanent secretaries to provide information about the vacancies and asked them to file affidavits of the appointments made.

The panel also criticized that appointments were made only from a certain category of candidates in the CIC and SICs and considered whether bureaucrats and not people from all walks of life were present in these commissions.

The Supreme Court said the information commissioners should include eminent personalities from various fields.