The Ministry of personnel, Public grievances and pensions, on 24th October 2019, has issued The Right to Information (Term of Office, Salaries, Allowances and Other Terms and Conditions of Service of Chief Information Commissioner, Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission, State Chief Information Commissioner and State Information Commissioners in the State Information Commission) Rules, 2019 under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Key Highlights of the rules:
- The New rule has reduced the tenure of Information commissioners from five years to three years.
- It has given discretion to the central government to decide on allowances or service conditions not specifically covered by the 2019 rules which would be “binding” on the commissioners.
- The centre has been given the “power to relax” the provisions of the rules, raising serious concerns that the government could potentially invoke these powers to determine different tenures for different commissioners at the time of appointment.
- The rules also stipulate fixing of the salary of Chief Information Commissioner at Rs 2.50 lakh and of Information Commissioners at Rs 2.25 lakh.
- The chief information commissioners and state commissioners are also entitled to draw dearness allowance, medical facilities, accommodation, travel allowances, etc.
Click here to read the Notification
