Central Information Commission

Central Information Commission

News: Recently, Heeralal Samariya was appointed as the Chief Information Commissioner.

Background:
• The appointment triggered a political row with Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, saying he was “totally kept in the dark” about the selection.

What is Central Information Commission?
• The Central Information Commission was constituted in 2005 under the Right to Information Act, 2005. It is not a constitutional body.
• The jurisdiction of the Commission extends over all Central Public Authorities.
• The Central Information Commission shall consist of the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and several Central Information Commissioners not exceeding 10 as may be deemed necessary.

About Chief Information Commissioners and Information Commissioners:
• The commissioners are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee consisting of:
o The Prime Minister, who shall be the Chairperson of the committee;
o The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha; and
o A Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister.
• The Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners shall be persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science, technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media, or administration and governance.
• The CIC and ICs (at the central and state level) will hold office for a term of three years as per latest RTI amendment in 2019.

Functions of CIC:
• To receive and inquire into a complaint from any person regarding information requested under the RTI act.
• It can order an inquiry into any matter if there are reasonable grounds (suo-moto power).
• While inquiring, the Commission has the powers of a civil court in respect of summoning, requiring documents, etc.
• Adjudication in the second appeal for giving information;
• Direction for record-keeping
• Imposition of penalties and Monitoring and Reporting including preparation of an Annual Report.

Issues with CIC:
• Increasing government control on CIC on allowances or service conditions
• Poor record management led to delay in processing RTI cases
• Lack of knowledge of act to deal with RTI application
• Five times higher pendency than cases disposed
• It has been shown that CIC is reluctant to take action against government personnel.
• The CIC is mostly understaffed and the vacancies are not filled up.

Way Forward
• Need to increase the number of IC in CIC to clear pending cases
• Training programmes by experts for handling RTI applications
• Efficient record management by shifting to uploading digital documents on website to reduce physical document storage