SECTION PIL (WRIT) MATTER FOR : 04.03.
2025
COURT NO. : 3
ITEM NO. : 25, 25.1
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATION NO. 1979 OF 2019
WITH
I.A. NOS. 139361/2019, 107854/2020, 145229/2021 & 146563/2021
(Applications for Direction, Urgent Listing, Exemption from fi ling affi davit &
Permission to fi le additional documents)
WITH
I.A. NO. 102425/2021
(Application for deletion of Respondent No. 1)
AND
I.A. NO. 292208 and 296728 /2024 and 45966 and 56805/2025
(Application for exemption from fi ling Offi cial Translation )
IN
WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 436 OF 2018
(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India)
WITH
WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 1461 OF 2020
WITH
I.A. NOS 134701/2020, 115933 & 126769/2021
(Applications for exemption from fi ling Offi cial translation)
Anjali Bhardwaj & Ors., etc. ... Petitioners
Versus
Union of India & Ors., etc. ... Respondents
OFFICE REPORT
The Miscellaneous Application and Writ Petition above-mentioned were
listed before the Hon’ble Court on 07.01.2025 with Offi ce Report dated
06.01.2025, when the Court was pleased to pass the following Orders:
“1. The matter pertains to the appointment of the Chief
Information Commissioner (CIC)/Information
Commissioners (IC) in various States, alongwith the
appointment of the CIC by the Union of India. 2. Adverting
fi rst to Union of India, the status report reveals that,
presently, the Central Information Commission consists of
one CIC and two ICs. However, there are ten sanctioned
posts of ICs, in total. The vacant posts were advertised in
August 2024, and the selection process is still under way.
We, accordingly, direct the concerned Joint Secretary of the
Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to fi le an
affi davit with the following details:
xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx
xxxx.xxxx xxxx xxxx
4. In order to resolve the issue and to expedite the selection
process, the largest opposition party in the Vidhan Sabha
would nominate one of its elected members as a member of
the Selection Committee for the limited purpose of selection
to the post of CIC and ICs. The needful in this regard shall
be done within two weeks. The Selection Committee shall
commence the selection process immediately thereafter, i.e.
in the 3rd week from today and shall make an endeavor to
complete the selection process within six weeks thereafter.
The appointments shall be made within one week from the
receipt of recommendations from the Selection Committee.
The Chief Secretary, Jharkhand, shall fi le a status report-
cum-compliance affi davit in this regard before the next date
of hearing.
5. So far as the other States are concerned, we have
perused their respective status reports. It seems that most
of the States have initiated the selection process to fi ll up
the vacancies, but without any commitment regarding the
time line within which the appointments shall be made. We,
therefore, deem it appropriate to issue the following
directions to all the States (other than the State of
Jharkhand):
i. The list of the applicants shall be notifi ed within one
week;
ii. The composition of the Search Committee along with the
criteria prescribed for shortlisting applicants shall be
notifi ed within one week thereafter;
iii. The time line within which the interviews shall be
completed be notifi ed. This shall not be more than six weeks
from the date of notifi cation of composition of the Search
Committee and the criteria for shortlisting applicants;
iv. On receipt of the recommendations, the competent
authority shall scrutinize and make appointments within two
weeks.
6. The Chief Secretaries of all the States shall fi le their
respective compliance affi davits in this regard.
7. All the States shall, separately, fi nd out the total
vacancies for the respective ICs and the pendency of
applications before the respective commissions. Such
information shall also be furnished.
8. All those States, which have already made the required
appointments and where there are no vacancies, are
exempted from compliance with the above directions.”
9. Those States, where the appointments have already been
made, however, shall submit their respective compliance
affi davits in respect of the directions to the extent of: (i)
the list of candidates who had applied, (ii) the composition
of the Search Committee, (iii) the criteria adopted by the
Search Committee for shortlisting the candidates, and (iv)
the appointment notifi cations.
10. List on 04th March, 2025.
MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATION NO. 1979 OF 2019
It is submitted that pursuant to above Order dated 07.01.2025, certifi ed
copy of Record of Proceedings dated 07.01.2025 was sent to all the States / UTs.
It is submitted that, thereafter, the following documents have been fi led:
S.No Document Filed on Filed by On behalf of
(Mr./Ms./M/ S)
1. Compliance Affidavit 08.01.2025 Aaditya A. Pande Maharashtra (R-4)
2. Affidavit 30.01.2025 S.N. Terdal Union of India (R-1)
3. Additional Report 14.02.2025 Nishe Rajen Kerala (R-5)
Shonker
4. Supplementary 19.02.2025 Azmat H. Bihar
Affidavit a/w IA No. Amanullah
45966/2025
(Application for
exemption from filing
O.T.)
5. Affidavit 21.02.2025 K. Enatoli Sema Nagaland
6. Compliance Affidavit 21.02.2025 D.L. Chidananda Karnataka (R- 8)
7. Additional 27.02.2025 D.L. Chidananda Karnataka (R- 8)
Compliance Affidavit
8. Compliance Affidavit 28.02.2025 Sugandha Anand Himahcal Pradesh
cum-Status Report
9. Compliance Affidavit 28.02.2025 Sameer Sikkim
Abhyankar
10. Affidavit 28.02.2025 D.L. Chidananda Karnataka (R- 8)
11. Affidavit 28.02.2025 Apoorv Shukla Chhattisgarh
12. Compliance Affidavit 28.02.2025 P. Ramesh Kumar Manipur
13. Additional 01.03.2025 Swati Ghildiyal Gujarat (R-6)
Compliance Affidavit
14. Status Report 03.03.2025 Madhumita West Bengal (R-2)
Bhattacharjee
15. Affidavit 03.03.2025 Abhishek Atrey Uttarakhand
16. Compliance Affidavit 03.03.2025 Yasharth Kant Uttar Pradesh
along with IA
NO.56805/2025
(Application for
exemption form filing
O.T.)
It is further submitted that above-mentioned documents stand included in
Paper Books except S.No s. 13-16 which are being circulated before the Hon’ble
Court.
It is next submitted that no further document has been fi led, so far.
WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 1461 OF 2020
It is submitted that Ms. Pallavi Langar, Advocate has on 03.03.2025 e-
fi led a ‘Supplementary Affi davit dated 01.03.2025 on behalf of State of
Jharkhand’. (Copy of the same is being circulated for kind perusal ).
The Miscellaneous Application and Writ Petition alongwith applications
above-mentioned are listed before the Hon’ble Court with Offi ce Report for orders.
Dated this the 03rd day of March, 2025.
sd/-
Assistant Registrar
