Several rights groups have written to Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Monday, demanding the immediate appointment of information commissioners whose posts have been lying vacant for over three years.

Three rights groups — Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, PUCL Jharkhand, National Campaign for Right to Information (NCPRI) — and many social activists have signed the letter demanding that the State Information Commission, which has been inactive for three and a half years, be revived and chief information commissioner and information commissioners be appointed without delay.

“The State Information Commission is completely inactive since May 8, 2020. More than 7,700 appeals are pending before the commission (as per information retrieved from RTI). For the last three and a half years, there is no recourse to the appellate mechanism for not providing information as per the RTI Act by the administration. There is no doubt that thousands of applicants have been deprived of their right to information and appeal before the commission during this period,” the letter states.

“The Supreme Court in its February 2019 judgment (WP(C) 436 of 2018) said that to ensure proper implementation of the Right to Information Act, it is important to have an Information Commission with an adequate number of commissioners depending on the workload. The court directed the central and state governments to ensure timely and transparent appointment of information commissioners. But despite this, the state government has remained silent on this issue,” the letter adds.

Jharkhand has a provision for six commissioners, including a chief information commissioner. All six posts have been lying vacant since May 8, 2020.

"Many times the excuse has been given that the information commissioners have not been appointed due to the absence of the leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly. Under the RTI act, information commissioners are appointed by a selection committee headed by the chief minister. A cabinet minister and the leader of the Opposition from the Legislative Assembly are included in this committee. The act also clarifies that where no one is recognised as the leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, the leader of the largest Opposition party shall be deemed the leader of the Opposition for the purpose of the Selection Committee,” the letter explains.

“It is clear that if the Hemant Soren government wanted, it would have appointed the chief information commissioner and information commissioners by now. In such a situation, serious questions arise on the government's commitment to right to information and transparent and accountable governance,” the letter claims.

JMM spokesperson Vinod Pandey, who holds the rank of a minister of state by virtue of being a member of the UPA coordination committee, said: “As far as vacancies in the Information Commission are concerned, it is the BJP that has to be blamed as they have not named the leader of the Opposition. The BJP named Babulal Marandi as their legislature party leader, but the Speaker is yet to give him the leader of the Opposition status due to the anti-defection petition pending with his tribunal. We had requested to give the name of another representative, which they did not.”