HYDERABAD: With the Supreme Court vacating the stay on appointment of four state information commissioners, calling it illegal, the fact that they disposed off 25,320 cases in their four years was lost.
The four information commissioners—S Imtiyaz Ahmed, M Vijaya Nirmala, Lam Thanthiya Kumari, Varre Venkateswarlu— vacated their posts following the SC order on Thursday. One more information commissioner retired on Saturday and another will on May 13 making the commission defunct.
Petitioner insistent
“There were a lot of complaints about these four officials during their tenure. Some did not attend to their duties,” alleged K Padmanabha Reddy, secretary for the Forum For Good Governance (FGG), who is a petitioner in the case against their appoinments.
“Unfortunately this has snowballed into the closing on the commission. We have already represented to the chief ministers of both Telugu states for a new commission,” he added.
With over 14,000 cases still pending to be heard, the Andhra Pradesh Information Commission soon is expected to become a non-functioning government body. The commission started 2017 with an opening balance of 11,863 cases. The six information commissioners received an additional 11,138 cases by March end.
They could only dispose off just over 8,000 cases over the same period. “The four information commissioners were found to have political connections prior to their appointments,” claimed Padmanabha Reddy. The governor initially rejected their applications but was forced to accept after their names were referred to him repeatedly.
The move was challenged in the High Court but they got a stay in 2013 which allowed them to continue to function. The issue went on for four years until the Supreme court squashed the stay order, he added.
Babu defends himself
Commenting on why there is a large number of cases pending with the commission, information commissioner P Vijaya Babu said: “I used to dump 50 to 60 cases a day, other commissioners maybe would dispose of 25 cases a day.
Their contention is that if you do things fast, the cases may not be heard properly. But all one needs is to do proper homework. There needs to be changes brought into the administrative functioning of the commission. The talks regarding the bifurcation of the commission will take place in due time. The issues related to the functioning of the commission will be discussed,” he added.