NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court
on Thursday edged out "eminent people" from heading commissions under
the Right to Information Act by ordering that only sitting or retired chief justices of
high courts and SC judges would be appointed aschief information commissioners at both the Centre and the states.
In addition, sitting or retired HC
judges should be preferred in appointment of information commissioners, it
said, faulting the vague criteria for such appointments provided under the RTI
Act.
The bench of Justices A K Patnaik
and Swatanter Kumar may have boosted post-retirement opportunities for HC and
SC judges by ruling that the information commissions were "judicial
tribunals" performing functions of "judicial" and
"quasi-judicial" nature and had trappings of a court and should be
headed by a judicial mind.
The gain for retired judges
would be at the cost of former officials. The Act prescribes appointment of
information commissioners from among persons of eminence in public life and
those with wide knowledge and experience in the fields specified under the
legislation.
Source
:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
