NEW DELHI: A group of 15 sitting and retired information commissioners last week wrote to Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, urging him to direct high courts not to entertain petitions against orders passed by the Central Information Commission (CIC).
Section 23 of the RTI Act says, “No court shall entertain any suit, application or other proceedings in respect of any order made under this act and no such order shall be called in question otherwise than by way of an appeal under this Act.”
So, Parliament clearly intended that the final appeal will lie with the information commissions, the letter pointed out. Yet, directions of information commissioners were being negated due to high court stay orders.
“At the very least orders of imposition of penalty should not be stayed as no irrevocable harm can come to the penalised official. It should also be ensured that if any stay order is given it should give reasons for staying the statutory order of the commission, the letter said.
Its signatories include two sitting state information commissioners of Madhya Pradesh, Rahul Singh and G Krishnamurthy, four retired central information commissioners and one retired chief central information commissioner. The CIC has been set up under the RTI Act.