Information Officer Heeralal Samariya on Monday formally took oath as the Chief of the Central Information Commission (CIC) in the presence of President Droupadi Murmu, becoming the first Dalit person to assume the position.
President Murmu administered the oath of office to Samariya at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan here, officials said. This comes after the Supreme Court directed the Centre and states to make efforts to fill vacancies in the Central Information Commission (CIC) and State Information Commissions (SICs).
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra observed that the 2005 law on the Right to Information (RTI) will become a "dead letter" if vacancies are not filled.
Who is Heeralal Samariya?
Samariya was born in a remote and small village in Rajasthan's Bharatpur District. After becoming an IAS officer, he served as Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Employment. He was also a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers.
The 63-year-old Samariya was chosen for the post of Chief Information Commissioner, which lay vacant since the term of YK Sinha ended on October 3. He was sworn in as the Information Commissioner in the CIC on November 7, 2020.
After Samariya's appointment as the Chief Information Commissioner, there exists a vacancy of eight Information Commissioners. At present, there are two Information Commissioners in the Commission.
The Commission is headed by the Chief Information Commissioner and can have a maximum of 10 Information Commissioners. A Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners can hold the office till they attain 65 years of age.
What did the Supreme Court say?
The three-judge bench of the apex court on October 30 observed that the large number of vacancies would defeat "the underlying spirit and express orders" of the court. It came after submissions were filed by senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj, and said that the SICs had become defunct due to the absence of serving information commissioners.
The SC bench also directed the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to collate information from all states and file a status report, including on the aspect of steps being taken to fill the vacancies in SICs. It also asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to assist the bench in dealing with the matter and asked the list to be provided after three weeks.
(with ANI inputs)
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