BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday said the appointment of state chief information commissioner and information commissioners by the state government will be subject to the final outcome of the petition challenging their appointments.
Referring to the oath taken by these officers on Tuesday evening, the court said the state and all the appointees are put on notice that merely because they were sworn in today, it should not preclude the court from considering the interim prayer made by the petitioner and the court may issue appropriate orders.
Justice R Devdas passed the order after hearing the petition filed by K Mallikarjuna Raju from Bengaluru, questioning the notification dated January 30, 2025 by the state government appointing former IPS officer Ashit Mohan Prasad as the state chief information commissioner and Raman K, Dr Harish Kumar, Rudranna Harthikote, Narayan G Channal, Rajashekara S, Badruddin K and former IAS officer Dr Mamatha BR as state information commissioners. The court issued notice to all the appointees while adjourning further hearing to February 10.
The petitioner contended that as per Section 15(3) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, a committee comprising the chief minister, the leader of the opposition in the Assembly and a cabinet minister nominated by the chief minister may recommend to the governor the appointment of the state chief information commissioner and information commissioners. As per the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Anjali Bhardwaj, every state needs to have a search committee, which should scrutinise the applications.
Their recommendation has to be placed before the selection committee for recommendation. However, the state government has not complied with the directions of the Supreme Court, the petitioner claimed while also pointing out that Ashit Mohan Prasad did not apply for the post.
Advocate General K Shashikiran Shetty submitted that there was a search committee and it scrutinised the applications. A shortlist forwarded by the search committee has been considered by the committee for selection and thereafter, the process of appointment of the respondents in the petition has taken place.