JAMMU: A Division Bench of the State High Court comprising First Puisne Judge Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar and Justice B.S. Walia on Tuesday issued notices to the Chief Secretary J&K State, Commissioner/Secretary General Administration Department (GAD) and Commissioner/Secretary Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs in a application seeking directions to the State Government to initiate the process for appointment of Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and Information Commissioner in State Information Commission (SIC) constituted under J&K Right to Information Act, 2009.
Senior AAG Seema Shekhar accepted notices in the open court on behalf of the functionaries of the State Government.
After hearing Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed appearing for the petitioners and Senior AAG Seema Shekhar appearing for the State Government, the Division Bench headed by First Puisne Judge Ramalingam Sudhakar directed the Senior AAG to file the response.
When this PIL came up for hearing Advocate S.S. Ahmed appearing for the petitioners submitted that J&K Government established State Information Commission under J&K RTI Act, 2009 and Mr. G.R. Sufi (Retd. Income Tax Commissioner) was appointed as the founder Chief Information Commissioner and besides this two Information Commissioners namely Dr. S.K. Sharma and Mr. Nazir Ahmed were also appointed. Advocate Ahmed further submitted that Dr. S.K. Sharma completed his term as Information Commissioner in October, 2015 whereas Chief Information Commissioner G.R. Sufi also demitted office on February, 29, 2016 and presently the Commission is being run by Information Commissioner Nazir Ahmed.
He further submitted that it was incumbent upon the State Government to initiate the process of the appointment of the CIC and the Information Commissioner prior to the completion of their terms but till date the said process has not been kick-started with the result the Information watch dog of the State Government has been rendered headless and almost defunct.