The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre and the States to immediately take steps to fill up vacancies in the Central Information Commission (CIC) and State Information Commissions (SIC) before they became “defunct” and rendered the citizens’ right to know under the Right to Information (RTI Act) a “dead letter”.
A three-judge Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud gave the Centre three weeks to collate data from the States on the sanctioned strength of the CIC and SICs; existing and anticipated vacancies till March 31, 2024; and pending cases.
The case would be listed again for hearing after three weeks.