The Center on Monday (December 1, 2025) informed the Supreme Court that a panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet on December 10 to select and recommend names for the post of Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioner of the Central Information Commission (CIC).
Speaking to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, who was hearing a plea seeking filling of CIC and State Information Commission (SIC) vacancies, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, said the appointment had been fixed and a notice had been sent to the panel members.
According to Section 12(3) of the Right to Information Act, the Prime Minister is the Chairman of the Committee, which also includes the Leader of the Opposition and a Union Minister appointed by the Prime Minister, which selects and recommends names for appointment as Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioner.
The Supreme Court noted ASG’s submission and adjourned the hearing on the objection.
It asked the chief secretaries of all states to submit details of the total number of SICs, vacancies in SICs and the number of appeals and complaints pending before the commissions.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the petitioners including Anjali Bhardwaj and others, said the government has not filled the vacancies resulting in backlog of cases before the commissions.
He said some states have made two to three appointments and say they don’t need to fill all the seats because they have enough strength of members to handle the incoming cases.
Mr. Bhushan said there were at least seven comprehensive orders of the court directing the Center to expeditiously fill vacancies in CIC and SIC.
On 27 November, the high court adjourned the matter after Nataraj was informed that the selection committee was scheduled to meet on 28 October 2025, but the meeting could not take place due to other commitments of the members.
The Supreme Court asked Nataraj to speak to the secretary of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and apprise them of the total number of vacancies, noting that “we have no reason to doubt that the competent authority will take the necessary initiative to fill up the available vacancies”.
It noted that states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka have basically filled all the vacancies and their information commissions are working at full capacity, while in Chhattisgarh the vacancies will be filled within six weeks.
On October 27, the apex court refused to issue a directive to publish the names of candidates shortlisted for the post of Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioner in the CIC.
It directed the states, including Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh, to immediately try to fill the vacancies in the state information commissions.
Pending cases
Mr. Bhushan alleged that the governments were “trying to kill the Right to Information Act” by abolishing information commissions.
He said the CIC is currently without its chief and eight of the 10 information commissioner posts are vacant.
“The pending cases in the CIC are nearly 30,000,” he said, pointing out the violation of earlier orders of the apex court, which directed that all vacancies be filled directly.
On January 7, the apex court took a dim view of vacancies in the CIC and state information commissions as it directed the Center to fill the posts immediately.
Seeking an expedited selection of information commissioners in the CIC, the apex court told the Center that these posts need to be filled at the earliest.
She criticized the appointment of only a certain category of candidates in CIC and SIC and reasoned, taking note of the fact that only bureaucrats are considered for these commissions instead of people from all walks of life.
Delayed selection procedure
Activist Bhardwaj and others said that in 2019, the Supreme Court had issued crucial guidelines for filling CIC and SIC posts, but states had delayed the selection process, effectively killing the Right to Information Act.
On 26 November 2024, the apex court took a strict view on the matter and asked the Center and the states to inform them about the steps taken to fill these posts.
Since February 2019, the Supreme Court has issued several directions regarding the need for timely appointment of a transparency watchdog by the Center and the states. It was found that in Jharkhand, Tripura and Telangana SICs had virtually disappeared as there were no Information Commissioners.
On 30 October 2023, the Supreme Court issued a similar directive, noting that the Right to Information Act, 2005 would otherwise become a “dead letter”.
Ms. Bhardwaj’s plea said the Center and the states did not follow the 2019 Supreme Court judgment on these issues, including timely filling of posts in CIC and SIC.
The Supreme Court in December 2019 directed the Center and the state governments to appoint information commissioners in CIC and SIC within three months and asked the concerned authorities to publish the names of the commissioners in the selection board and the appointment of information commissioners in CIC on their websites.
The Supreme Court said that information officers should include eminent personalities from various fields.
Published – 01 Dec 2025 18:06 IST
