A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Kumar Mishra and Justice Kailash Joshi issued the notices on a petition by Dinesh Bothra who argued the state has not complied with the provisions of the RTI Act, which say the commission should have a multi-member structure.
The appointment of at least one State Information Commissioner is mandatory along with a Chief Information Commissioner in the RIC, whereas there was only one Chief Information Commissioner and not a single State Information Commissioner in the state, the petition said.
"Hence, the functioning of the commission is in contradiction with the fundamental notion of the act," counsel for the petitioner Baljeet Singh Sandhu and Sandeep Shah argued.
The petition said it was affecting the disposal of pending appeals which have exceeded 8000, with the time of disposal shooting to over one year.
The petition also questioned the process of appointment of the Chief Information Commissioners in the state.
Quoting information they claimed to have got through an RTI query, the counsel said that the Public Information Officer of the RIC has also admitted that the commission has never made any effort to ensure the compliance of provisions of the Act as far as the adequate staff and commissioners and their appointment is concerned.
The court asked the government and the RIC to submit their response on the next date of hearing.