Hyderabad: Forum for Good Governance, an NGO has requested Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan to urgently appoint Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and information commissioners (IC) for the state.
In a letter to the Governor, Forum for Good Governance’s secretary M Padhmanabha Reddy noted that as of 24 Febuary 2023, all five IC’s in the state demitted office and as such Telangana is without any Commissioners.
The letter further stated that a few months back the Information Commission office had written to the government regarding the demitting of officers. However, the government took no steps to appoint anyone.
Even after the formation of Telangana in 2014, Forum for Good Governance had to file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Telangana High Court to ensure that an Information Commission was constituted to begin with.
In 2020, the CIC completed office and the post was in additional charge by one of the existing ICs.
The Right to Information Act states that CICs and ICs will be appointed by the Governor based on a committee appointed by the Chief Minister.
“In the interest of transparency and accountability and to control corruption in the administration, the RTI act should be implemented,” said Forum for Good Governance in its letter.
