Hyderabad: Two important commissions — Telangana Information Commission and Telangana Human Rights Commission — have become defunct in the last two years with the state govt not appointing a chairman and commissioners for TGIC and chairman for TGHRC.
As a result, 16,000 appeals and complaints with TGIC and 2,500 complaints plus 12,000 pending cases lying with TGHRC are waiting for disposal. The Supreme Court, a couple of days ago, had directed central and state govts to come up with specific timelines within two weeks to fill up posts in both the commissions. TGIC became non-functional in Feb 2023 after the retirement of the commissioners. The chief information commissioner post has been lying vacant since Aug 2020.
While Telangana came into being in June 2014, the previous BRS govt took three years to appoint information commissioners. The Congress govt has also not filled the vacancies except for calling for applications three months ago. The previous BRS govt invited applications for the posts on high court’s directions but kept it pending.
Forum for Good Governance (FGG) has been writing letters to the govt to fill the posts. “As there is no information commission and no appellate authority in place, officers in various departments are refusing to give information to the applicants,” M Padmanabha Reddy, president of FGG, told TOI.
TGHRC chairman and two member posts also have not been filled in the last two years after Justice G Chandraiah’s term ended in Dec 2022. TGHRC’s role assumes importance at a time when there are allegations of human rights violations, experts say.
Lokayukta and Upa Lokayukta, which probe various allegations, will also vacate their posts in Dec. Retired high court judge CV Ramulu is presently the Lokayukta. Both posts were filled in Dec 2019 after the high court ordered their appointment.
