The actual quote from PIB. "The law officers of the Government pointed out that there is no provision in the RTI Act enabling the Commission to decide the cases through Benches. So as to ensure that nothing legally wrong is done, the Government advised the Information Commission that decisions on the appeals/complaints should be taken by the Commission and not by the Benches of the Commission. Some parties, without understanding the intricacies of law, have been trying to create an impression that Government is trying to limit the powers of the Commission, which is far from the truth. The only concern of the Government in the matter is that nothing illegal should be done. However, the Government is considering suitable amendments in the Act in order to enable the Commissions to function through Benches."
12(7) by no means can be considered as being an enabling clause for CIC to appoint Benches. It is merely an enabling clause for CIC to open "offices". I for one am going with the DoPT on this one. The CIC cannot constitute Benches. There is no provision in the law for this. For example what happens if the ICs disagree? Does the C'IC have a "casting vote" in case of a tie? Can the C'IC "rig" the composition of benches to get the decisions he wants (like he is doing at present). Actually the entire section 12 argument is better debated in the ongoing ACTIVE DEBATE #1. Sarbajit --- In [email protected], "Venkatesh Nayak" <venkat...@...> wrote: > > Dear friends, > Vishal has already posted on Humjanenge a link to the press release issued > by the Department of Personnel and Training through the Press Information > Bureau about what will be amended in the Right to Information Act and the > steps they have taken to improve implementation. I have a few comments on > the contents of the press release for your consideration. The text of the > press release may be accessed at: > http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=51451 >
