By IANS,
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Wednesday issued notice to the central government and the Central Information Commission (CIC) on a petition seeking filling up of vacancies of subordinate staff in the panel set up under the transparency law.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw asked the central government to file an affidavit on the status of the appointment process along with the latest records related to the CIC.
The order came in response to a public suit petition filed by two Right to Information activists R.K. Jain and Amit Shanker.
The two highlighted the lack of transparency and accountability in the appointment in the CIC.
The petitioner has sought the filling up of vacancies in the panel in a transparent manner.
Advocate Pranav Sachdeva, appearing for the petitioners, alleged that there was no transparency in the selection process.
He said that the lack of timely selection of employees had led to a backlog of more than 21,000 appeals and complaints in the commission.
Government counsel said that they had advertised for appointments and 214 applications had been received.
“Unless the court gives a direction, the process was likely to take several months before the appointments are made, increasing the backlog,” said Sachdeva.
The petition said that the vacancies of subordinate staff in the last three years had grown to 108.
The court would hear the case next Feb 15, 2012.