The Supreme Court on Monday refused to issue a directive to make public the names of candidates shortlisted for the post of Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, however, directed all states — including Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh — to take immediate steps to fill the vacant posts in their respective State Information Commissions (SICs).

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing petitioners Anjali Bhardwaj and others, told the court that the government was “trying to kill the Right to Information Act” by keeping information commissions defunct.

He pointed out that the Central Information Commission currently has no chief, and that eight out of ten commissioner posts r

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