Are loyal bureaucrats being appointed to Information Commission?
8 Dec, 2012Hearing the review petition filed by the Central government, a bench of justices A K Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar of the Supreme Court observed "It would be good if independent person with legal background is appointed in the commission and not only the retired bureaucrats who are loyal to the government." The bench was referring to the provision of the RTI Act, 2005 regarding the eligibility criteria for a person to be appointed as Information Commissioner. The bench said "The Right to Information Act has no doubt done good work but due to infirmities in it, a lot of damage has been done. It has to be rectified.”
In the Namit Sharma case, the Apex Court had earlier held that people from judicial background should form a part of the two member bench at the information commissions and only sitting or retired chief justices of high courts or a Supreme Court judge can head them. The Centre has contested the verdict arguing that the apex Court cannot rewrite a law which is a function of legislative body.