Three new information Commissioners appointed at CIC

New Delhi, Sep 28 (UNI) Three additional information Commissioners have been appointed at the Central Information Commission (CIC) who would help in clearing the pending appeals, Chief Information Comissioner Wajahat Habibullah said.

''More than 1,500 appeals from all over the country are filed in the CIC every month wherein government officials do not respond to the queries. It is the duty of the CIC to address the complaints and enforce 'Right to Information' Act,'' Mr Habibulla said.

While speaking at the annual convention of United Residents Joint Action (URJA), the apex body of the Resident Welfare Association (RWA), Mr Habibullah said the maximum number of complaints received were against the Delhi government officials and the Registrar of Co-operative Societies (RCS) as all time was spent by them to evade the reply.

''They keep finding ways for not providing information to the RTI applications within the stipulated time and thus fined. The CIC plans to set up a special Bench to deal with the RCS cases to reduce the back log,'' he added.

Information officer V K Arora said the CIC was duty bound to address greivances of the people who have sought information under the Act. ''We can even order an inquiry against erring officials,'' he said and added all information related to Government, especially data, should be put in public domain so that unnecessary queries are avoided.

UNI SNG GL KN1803