Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday asked the governments of AP and Telangana states to place before it within two weeks the concrete proposals with regard to appointment of Chief Information Commissioners and Information Commissioners in both the states.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice T. Rajani was dealing with a PIL by Forum for Good Governance represented by its general secretary M. Padmanabhaiah, seeking to direct the governments of both the states to appoint the information commissioners.
B. Rachana Reddy, counsel for the petitioner, told the court that the posts of the Chief Information Commissioner and information commissioners were lying vacant for more than two months. Ms Reddy said that the people were facing hardships in resolving their petitions and appeals against the authorities’ failure to furnish information.
AP advocate-general D. Srinivas submitted that the State Information Commission was enlisted in Schedule X of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014 and both the state governments have to reach a consensus for appointment of the State Information Commission and commissioners.
When counsel appearing for the TS tried to explain the steps being initiated for the appointment of the information commission and commissioners, the bench pointed out the steps appeared to be vague and directed both the states to produce concrete proposals within two weeks.
