J N Bhatt is new Bihar CIC

JN Bhatt is new Bihar CIC

Patna: Retired Chief Justice of the Patna High Court, JN Bhatt, has been appointed as the new State Chief Information Commissioner of Bihar. He will replace Shashank Kumar Singh.

A committee, constituted as per section 15 (3) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, consisting of the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy CM Shushil Modi and Leader of opposition in Legislative Assembly Rabri Devi has approved the decision.

At present, the State Information Commission has two State Information Commissioners-Shakil Ahmed and PN Narayan, both are retired Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers.

Many RTI activists believe that the appointment of retired bureaucrats or judges to the post of Chief or Information Commissioners go against the spirit of the RTI Act itself.

This legislation was conceived in view of the growing tendencies of secrecy and confidentiality of the establishment. This legislation was aimed at coming down heavily on the public authorities by making a provision in the Act about proactive disclosures.

In fact, Section 4 of the RTI Act has made it mandatory on the part of all the public authorities to disclose within 120 days after the notification of the legislation, all relevant information through proactive disclosure.