Cuttack: The Orissa High Court issued notices to the state government Friday on a writ plea challenging the appointment of information commissioners Laxmi Narayan Pattanayak and Sashiprava Bindhani.
The HC had been moved by Pradeep Kumar Pradhan who alleged scrutiny, selection and appointment of the information commissioners was not done as envisaged under section 15(3) of Right to Information Act of 2005.
Holding a preliminary hearing, Justice B R Sarangi issued notices to the state commissioner-cum secretary of I & PR department and to two state information commissioners Pattanayak and Bindhani, who have been made respondents to the petition, asking them to file their counters within two weeks.
The government had appointed Pattanayak, an eminent administrator of justice and governance, and Bindhani, a prominent social worker as state information commissioners (SICs) in May last year. Their names, along with four others, were shortlisted by a four-member high-level scrutiny committee headed by former development commissioner UN Behera for selection to be appointed from among 44 applicants.
Later, the selection committee, headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, parliamentary affairs minister Bikram Arukh and Opposition leader Narasingha Mishra, selected the SICs in a majority view with a note of disagreement from the leader of Opposition. PTI