New Delhi: In a big relief to RTI activists, the Supreme Court today recalled its own order – which would have brought sweeping changes in the functioning of the RTI machinery – and said that non-judicial members can be appointed to Information Commissions.”It was a mistake of law,” said the top court today, setting aside its order in September last year that made it mandatory to have only retired high court chief justices and Supreme Court judges as information commissioners.
The court today said that not just judges – persons of eminence in science and journalism can be appointed to the RTI commissions. But intricate questions related to law should be tackled by legal experts.RTI activists had called the ruling completely inimical to the way the RTI machinery should work and said it had led to a virtual freeze in the appointment of information commissioners.
The Supreme Court also said today that names picked by a panel for the information commissions have to be made public. Information commissioners are currently selected by a committee comprising the Prime Minister, Law Minister and leader of opposition after an open applications process.
In its earlier judgement, the court had made it mandatory for the information commissions to work in benches of two members each – one of them being a “judicial member” and the other an “expert member”.
The court had also asked the Centre to amend the RTI act to accommodate judicial members as Commissioners – but the Centre said it is Parliament’s responsibility to amend laws, the court can’t dictate it.RTI or Right to Information – a showpiece achievement of UPA-1 – was made into a law in 2005 and was brought in as a measure of transparency to fight corruption, after activists pushed it for several years.
Bureau Report
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