MPSC 2024 Prelims Paper-I · Question 78 of 100

Correct — option (2), 'Ten Information Commissioners'. Section 12 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 constitutes the Central Information Commission and fixes its size: it consists of the Chief Information Commissioner and such number of Central Information Commissioners, not exceeding ten, as may be deemed necessary. The figure is a ceiling rather than a fixed strength, so the Commission functions with whatever number has actually been appointed, and the vacancies that have from time to time been left unfilled have been the subject of litigation and of directions from the Supreme Court. The same ceiling of ten is prescribed for each State Information Commission under section 15, which consists of the State Chief Information Commissioner and not more than ten State Information Commissioners, so a candidate who learns one number has learnt both. The Commission is the apex appellate authority under the Act: an applicant dissatisfied with the decision of the first appellate authority within a public authority may make a second appeal to it, and it also hears complaints, for instance where a public information officer has refused to receive an application or has not been appointed at all. Its powers are considerable — it has the powers of a civil court in respect of summoning witnesses, requiring the discovery of documents and receiving evidence on affidavit, it can require a public authority to provide information in a particular form, order compensation to the complainant, and impose a penalty on a public information officer who has refused an application or delayed information without reasonable cause.

• (1)Five Information Commissioners — Five is not the statutory ceiling for the Central Information Commission. The number is worth distinguishing from the figures that do appear elsewhere in the Act and around it — the original tenure of the commissioners was five years, which is very likely the source of the confusion, since that figure was among the best-known numbers attached to the office before the amendment of 2019 moved tenure out of the statute and left it to be prescribed by the Central Government. A number that belongs to the tenure cannot be transferred to the composition.
• (3)Six Information Commissioners — Six is not the figure in section 12 either. It is offered as a plausible middle value in a question where the candidate is expected to be guessing between small numbers, and it has no basis in the Act. The safeguard is to remember that the Act uses the same ceiling of ten for both the Central Information Commission and every State Information Commission, so any answer other than ten conflicts with the symmetry the statute was drafted with.
• (4)Eight Information Commissioners — Eight is close to the correct ceiling but is not what the Act says, and in a question of this kind proximity earns nothing. Options like this one are the reason the statutory numbers of a body have to be memorised exactly rather than approximately: the Commission sets three near neighbours of the true figure precisely so that a candidate with a general sense of the size of the body cannot reason his way to the answer.

The Right to Information Act, 2005 gives every citizen the right to seek information held by or under the control of a public authority, subject to the exemptions in sections 8 and 9, and it builds a three-step machinery to enforce that right. The request goes to the Public Information Officer, who must ordinarily reply within thirty days, or within forty-eight hours where the information concerns the life or liberty of a person. A dissatisfied applicant appeals within the public authority to the first appellate authority, an officer senior to the Public Information Officer. The second appeal lies to the Information Commission — the Central Information Commission for central public authorities and the State Information Commission for those of a State. The Central Information Commission consists of the Chief Information Commissioner and not more than ten Information Commissioners, appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister; the State Commission is constituted on the same pattern with the Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and a nominated State Cabinet Minister, and appointment by the Governor. The commissioners must be persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in one of several listed fields, and they may not hold any other office of profit, be connected with a political party or carry on any business or profession. The Right to Information (Amendment) Act, 2019 removed the fixed tenure and salary provisions from the Act, leaving both to be prescribed by the Central Government.

Statutory composition figures are perfect prelims material because they are exact, short and easy to confuse, and MPSC uses them heavily. This paper tests the Right to Information Act twice within eight questions — the selection committee at question 71 and the size of the Commission here — which is a fair indication of how central the Act is to the syllabus. The practical preparation is a compact record for each statutory body: how many members, who appoints them, on whose recommendation, for how long and how they may be removed. For the Information Commissions that record is one chief plus not more than ten, appointed by the President or the Governor on the recommendation of a three-member committee, removable only on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity after an inquiry by the Supreme Court. Note also the wording of the stem, which asks for the maximum number; a ceiling and an actual strength are different things, and questions sometimes turn on the distinction.

• Under section 12 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 the Central Information Commission consists of the Chief Information Commissioner and not more than ten Information Commissioners.
• Section 15 lays down the same ceiling for each State Information Commission — the State Chief Information Commissioner and not more than ten State Information Commissioners.
• The Commission is the second appellate authority under the Act and also hears complaints, for instance where no Public Information Officer has been appointed.
• It has the powers of a civil court in respect of summoning witnesses, discovery of documents and receiving evidence on affidavit, and it may impose penalties on a Public Information Officer who denies information without reasonable cause.
• The Right to Information (Amendment) Act, 2019 removed the fixed tenure and salary provisions from the Act and left them to be prescribed by the Central Government.

• Carrying a number that belongs to the tenure of the commissioners into the composition of the Commission
• Assuming the State Information Commission has a different ceiling from the Central one; the Act uses ten for both
• Reading the statutory ceiling as the actual strength; the Act sets a maximum, and vacancies are common
• Confusing the Chief Information Commissioner with the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, whose Commission has a quite different composition

Composition questions in MPSC papers name a statutory or constitutional body and ask for its strength, its appointing authority or its tenure, with three near-miss numbers offered alongside the right one. They cannot be reasoned out and must be memorised, which makes them among the most efficient items to prepare — one line per body covers every variant the Commission can set. The Right to Information Act attracts a second family of questions on procedure and time limits, and a third on exemptions, so the Act is worth studying section by section rather than in outline.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Right to Information Act, 2005, information concerning the life or liberty of a person is to be provided within :

  • (a)Twenty-four hours
  • (b)Forty-eight hours
  • (c)Seven days
  • (d)Thirty days

  Answer(b) Forty-eight hours — the Act prescribes thirty days as the ordinary time limit for supplying information, but where the request concerns the life or liberty of a person the information must be provided within forty-eight hours of the receipt of the request.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Chief Information Commissioner can be removed from office by the President on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity only after :

  • (a)A resolution of both Houses of Parliament passed by a special majority
  • (b)An inquiry by the Supreme Court on a reference made to it by the President
  • (c)A recommendation of the Central Vigilance Commission
  • (d)An inquiry by a committee of the Union Cabinet

  Answer(b) An inquiry by the Supreme Court on a reference made to it by the President — the Right to Information Act protects the office by requiring the Court to report, on such a reference, that the Chief Information Commissioner ought to be removed on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity.