HYDERABAD: In a landmark judgement by the AP High Court over a petition filed by RTI activist G Bhargavi, the state government has been ordered to appoint commissioners to the State Information Commission within four weeks.Talking on behalf of the petitioner, her counsel advocate DB Rao said the petition was filed on December 1 and the court understood the urgency to fill the posts which have been lying vacant since November 17, 2010.“The office of the Chief Information Commission is a multi-member body but for the past one year it has been operating with just one chief information commissioner.This has lead to an increased number of pending cases,” said Rao. Interestingly, the High Courts of Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttaranchal had already passed judgements in the past one year seeking immediate appointment of information commissioners in the respective states.But while this helped create a ripple effect with even Rajasthan filling the vacant posts, the AP government decided to sleep on the issue. “Bhargavi had earlier requested the chief minister, special chief secretary as well as the governor for the same but everyone had some excuse or other to avoid the appointment procedure,” added Rao. He also mentioned in wake of the noconfidence motion being passed in the Parliament, there was a provision for the existing governor to appoint the required information commissioners with recommendation from the chief secretary.
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