Central Information Commissioner - His Role and Importance in RTI

RTI Refers to the Right to Information Act under which any citizen of India
can ask for certain information from the authorities operated by the
Government.

Central Information Commissioner: His Role under RTI Act

The Central Information Commissioner is the head of the Central
Information Commission which is an authorized government body
set up under the Right to Information Act 2005.

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has been set up in order to help
those individuals who have not been able to submit their RTI Applications to
a Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer.

The reasons for this can be either one of the officers not yet been appointed
or one of the officers refuse to accept the individual’s
application under the Right to Information Act.

If such a problem is faced by an individual, imagine how difficult it would be

to obtain the required information. This is where the Central Information
Commissioner comes in the picture.

Composition of the CIC:

There is one Chief Commissioner and not more than 10 Information
Commissioners who make up the entire Central Information Commission.

All these commissioners are appointed by the President of India and it is

their duty to provide assistance to the individuals who face difficulties in
submitting an RTI application due to the above mentioned reasons.

Importance of the Central Information Commissioner:

 When someone is there to hear your complaints, you feel assured.

 This is the assurance that the Central Information Commissioner

provides along with his entire staff.

 Thus, the importance of the Central Information Commissioner

can’t be undermined in making the implementation of RTI a
success.
  The entire Central Information Commission acts as the backbone of
the RTI 2005 since it provides the individuals with an alternative in
case their applications are not accepted.

 Had it not been for the information commission or the CIC, individuals
would have no one to turn to if their applications got rejected by the
Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer.

 Also, since each officer is aware of the existence of the Central

information Commission, the chances of them refusing an application
are reduced.

What to do If an RTI Request is Not Being

Answered?
 Each state has its own policy when it comes to implementation of the
RTI Act 2005 and it is not necessary that the policy of one state will be
exactly similar to the policy of another.

 If your RTI application concerns the problems that affects only your
state and if you haven’t received any reply from the authorities to
which your RTI application was addressed, you can submit a First
Appeal to the authority.

 If you don’t get any reply after filing a first appeal, you must approach
the State Information Commission.

 However, if the State Information Commission also fails to

reply to your application, you can approach the State High Court
and NOT the Central Information Commission.

 The CIC will be involved only if the RTI query was sent to central
government department.

A Small Example
Suppose there has been a road construction going on for months in your
locality. It is a great obstacle to anyone travelling or passing by that road. In
this case you must submit an RTI Application with the Municipal
Corporation.

If they don’t respond to your RTI application, a first appeal can be made to
the Appellate Authority. If that too remains unanswered, you can
approach the State Information Commission. Even then if there is not
satisfactory response, approaching the high court is the options and not the
CIC.

This is because the road concerns is not a matter of the Central

Government. Thus, it is a matter of the State, and the Central Information
Commission will not interfere in a State matter.

Hope we have been able to clear your doubts and explain the role and
importance of the Central Information Commissioner and his department.
 Basics of the Central and State information Commissions

The RTI act 2005 provides for establishment of Central and State information
commissioner as a designated authority to receive and inquire into a complaint
from any person.

What is the Central information commission?

The Act provided for the constitution of the Central Information Commission
(CIC) to be responsible for the implementation of the Act, exercising powers
conferred on it under Section 18 of the Act. The CIC, under this Section,
consists of one Chief Information Commissioner, who will head the
Commission, and such number of Central Information Commissioners,
as may be deemed necessary, but not exceeding ten. On 26 October
2005, Mr. Wajahat Habibullah became India’s first Chief Information
Commissioner.

 Under the CIC, The Chief Information Commissioner enjoys complete

financial and administrative powers of a Departm ent of the Government
of India except in matters relating to the creation of posts, re-appropriation
and writing-off losses for which it needs the specific concurrence of the
Ministry of Finance.
 The general superintendence, direction and management of the affairs of the
Commission are vested in the Chief Information Commissioner, who is
assisted by the Information Commissioners.

Who can become a CIC?

The Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners shall

be appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee
consisting of—Prime Minister as Chairperson, the Leader of Opposition in the
Lok Sabha; a Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister.
 Commissioner and Information Commissioners shall be persons of
eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law,
science and technology, social service, management, journalism,
mass media or administration and governance.
 The Commissioner or a commission member shall not be a Member of
Parliament or Member of the Legislature of any State or Union territory.
 The Chief Information Commissioner shall hold office for a term of five
years or after he has attained the age of sixty-five years whichever is
earlier.
 Every Information Commissioner shall hold office for a term of five years.
 Chief Information Commissioner shall be the same as that of the
Chief Election Commissioner; an Information Commissioner shall be the
same as that of an Election Commissioner: and receive salaries and
allowances same as them.

What are Powers and Functions of CIC?

The general superintendence, direction and management of the affairs of the

Central Information Commission vests in the Chief Information Commissioner
assisted by the Information Commissioners and exercises all such powers and
do all such acts and things which may be exercised or done by the Central
Information Commission autonomously without being subjected to directions
by any other authority under this Act. Some of the major works are –

 To receive and inquire into complaints from any personrelating to

access to information under the control of public authorities and to decide
appeals against the decisions of designated appellate officers.
 Powers to require the public authority to compensate the complainant for
any loss or other damage suffered.
 The decision of the Commission on an appeal is binding and isnot subject
to further appeal in a court of law.
 Can make recommendations to public authorities not conforming to the
provisions or the spirit of the Act.
 The Commission shall recommend to the Government every year,
reforms on any “matter relevant for operationalizing the right to access
information”.
 While inquiring into a complaint it the same powers as of a civil
court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, for the following purposes:
enforcing the attendance of persons and compelling them to give oral or
written evidence on oath and to produce documents or things; inspection of
documents; evidence on affidavit; any public record or copies thereof from
any court or office; issuing summons etc.


 The Act mandates the CIC to submit Annual Reports to the

Parliament.

What is a State information commission and Commissioner

The State Information Commission is constituted by the State Government
with one State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC) and not more than 10
State Information Commissioners (SIC) to be appointed by the Governor. The
 Commission and commissioners exercises its powers without being subjected
to any other authority under RTI act 2005.

 The Appointments Committee is headed by the Chief Minister including the

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and one Cabinet Minister
nominated by the Chief Minister.
 The qualifications for appointment as SCIC/SIC shall be the same as that for
Central Commissioners.
 The salary of the State Chief Information Commissioner will be the same as
that of an Election Commissioner. The salary of the State Information
Commissioner will be the same as that of the Chief Secretary of the State
Government.

What are powers and functions of SIC?

 The Central Information Commission/State Information Commission

has similar duties but at central level and jurisdictions.
 Have powers of Civil Courts similar to CIC such as – summoning and
enforcing attendance, receiving evidence on affidavit; requisitioning public
records, issuing etc.
 The State Information Commission sends annual a report to the State
Government.

What are Current Issues?

At present, the RTI Act states that the Chief Information Commissioner and
Information Commissioners must be persons of eminence in public life with
wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service,
management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance.

The Supreme Court in September 2012 ruled that “only” serving and
retired judges of the apex court and chief justices of state high courts
can head the Central and State Information Commissions. Directing the
Centre to amend the RTI Act in this regard, the court stated that the functions
of the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners can
be “better performed by a legally qualified and trained mind possessing the
requisite experience”.

It further ruled that lawyers with work experience of over 20 years will also
be eligible for appointment as a member and all such decisions will be taken
after consultations with the CJI and Chief Justice of the respective high courts.
The court passed the order on a PIL challenging the provisions of the Right to
Information Act, 2005 which enumerate the qualifications needed for
appointment as members to the commissions. As per the court, Information
Commissions are “judicial tribunals” and need to be manned by a person of
judicial mind, expertise and experience in that field.
Central Information Commission
September 4, 2018
The Central Information Commission (CIC) set up under the Right to
Information Act is the authorized quasi judicial body, established in
2005,under the Government of India to act upon complaints from those
individuals who have not been able to submit information requests to a
Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer due to
either the officer not having been appointed, or because the respective
Central Assistant Public Information Officer or State Assistant Public
Information Officer refused to receive the application for information under
the RTI Act. Satyanand Mishra is the current Chief Information
Commissioner.

He is being assisted by seven Information Commissioners – Mrs. Annapurna

Dixit,Shri M.L. Sharma,Mrs. Deepak Sandhu,Mrs. Sushma Singh,Shri Rajiv
Mathur,Shri Vijai Sharma and Shri Basant Seth. Central Information
Commission (CIC) The Central Information Commission was established by
the Central Government in 2005. It was constituted through an Official
Gazette Notification under the provisions of the Right to Information Act
(2005). Hence, it is not a constitutional body. But it has quasi judicial
powers.

The Central Information Commission is a high-powered independent body

which inter alia looks into the complaints made to it and decides the appeals.
It entertains complaints and appeals pertaining to offices, financial
institutions, public sector undertakings, etc., under the Central Government
and the Union Territories.

Quasi Judicial Powers and Functions

The powers and functions of the Central Information Commission are:

1. It is the duty of the Commission to receive and inquire into a complaint

from any person:
2. The Commission can order inquiry into any matter if there are reasonable
grounds (suo-moto power).
3. While inquiring, the Commission has the powers of a civil court in respect
of the following matters :
4. During the inquiry of a complaint, the Commission may examine any
record which is under the control of the public authority and no such
 record may be withheld from it on any grounds. In other words, all public
records must be given to the Commission during inquiry for examination.
5. The Commission has the power to secure compliance of its decisions from
the public authority. This includes:
6. The Commission submits an annual report to the Central Government on
the implementation of the provisions of this Act.
The Central Government places this report before each House of Parliament.
The Central Information Commission/State Information Commission has a
Quasi Judicial duty to receive complaints from any person –

 • who has not been able to submit an information request because a PIO
has not been appointed
 • who has been refused information that was requested;
 • who has received no response to his/her information request within the
specified time limits ;
 • who thinks the fees charged are unreasonable ;
 • who thinks information given is incomplete or false or misleading ;and
any other matter relating to obtaining information under this law.
Quasi Judicial Power to order inquiry if there are reasonable grounds

CIC/SCIC will have powers of Civil Court such as –

• summoning and enforcing attendance of persons, compelling them to

give oral or written evidence on oath and to produce documents or
things;

• requiring the discovery and inspection of documents;

• receiving evidence on affidavit ;

• requisitioning public records or copies from any court or office

• issuing summons for examination of witnesses or documents • any

other matter which may be prescribed.
Central Information Commission
Feb 19, 2014

The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, which came into force on 12
October 2005, marked a new and higher level of evolution of India’s
parliamentary democracy.

The Supreme Court has, in various judgements, held that the right to
information is a part of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and
expression under Article 19 (1) of the Constitution, since the right cannot
be properly exercised if the people did not have the right to information.

The clearest enunciation of the fundamental right to information was seen

in the Supreme Court ruling in the State of U.P vs. Raj Narain in which
Justice K.K. Mathew said:

“The people of this country have a right to know every public act,
everything that is done in a public way, by their public functionaries.
They are entitled to know the particulars of every public transaction in all
its bearing. The right to know, which is derived from the concept of
freedom of speech, though not absolute, is a factor which should make
one wary, when secrecy is claimed for transactions which can, at any
rate, have no repercussion on public security… “

Thus the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 is designed to set up a

practical regime for citizens to access information available with public
authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in their
working. This Act provides for the constitution of the Central Information
Commission (CIC) to be responsible for the implementation of the Act.

Central Information Commission was constituted by the Central

Government through a Gazette Notification in October 2005. The
Commission includes 1 Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and not
more than 10 Information Commissioners (IC) who are appointed by the
President of India. Oath of Office is administered by the President of India
according to the form set out in the First Schedule.

CIC defines “information” as any material in any form including records,

documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars,
orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data
material held in any electronic form and information relating to any
private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other
law for the time being in force.
Powers and Functions of the Central Information Commission

a) The CIC is empowered to receive and inquire into complaints from any
person relating to access to information under the control of public
authorities and to decide appeals against the decisions of designated
appellate officers.

b) The Commission shall impose penalties on erring Central Public

Information Officers and recommend disciplinary action against those who
have, without any reasonable cause, denied access to information under
the provisions of the Act.

c) The quantum of penalty liable to be imposed is Rs. 250 each day till
the application is received or information is furnished subject to the total
amount not exceeding Rs. 25,000.

d) The decision of the Commission on an appeal is binding and is not

subject to further appeal in a court of law.

e) The Commission may make recommendations to public authorities not

conforming to the provisions or the spirit of the Act, specifying the steps
which, in its opinion, they ought to take for promoting such conformity.

f) The Commission may, during the inquiry into any complaint, examine
any record under the control of the public authority, and no such record
may be withheld from it on any grounds.

g) The Commission shall recommend to the Government every year,

reforms on any “matter relevant for operationalising the right to access
information”.