IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CIVIL WRIT JURISDICTION CASE No.12491 of 2011 Dr. S. N. Upadhyaya Son of Late Raj Narain Upadhyaya, Resident of MIG No. 1 Kankarbagh Colony, Town & District- Patna. Versus 1. The State Of Bihar, through the Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar, Patna. 2. Principal Secretary, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reform, Govt. of Bihar, Patna. 3. Shri Ashok Kumar Chaudhary, Chief Information Commissioner, State Information Commissioner, Suchana Bhawan, Patna. ---------------------- 2. 02.08.2011 Heard Dr. Uma Shankar Prasad for the petitioner. None appears on behalf of the respondents. This writ petition is directed against the notification dated 19.10.2009 (Annexure-3), issued in the name of the Governor of Bihar, whereby respondent no. 3 has been appointed as the Chief Information Commissioner, Bihar, in terms of Section 15 (3) of the Right to Information Act, 2005. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that appointment of respondent no. 3 is in violation of the provisions of Section 15 (5) of the Act. He also relies on the Judgment of the Supreme Court in Centre for P.I.L. and Anr. Vs. Union of India and Anr.), (2011) 4 SCC 1. He further submits that the combined effect of the 2 provisions of the Act, and the law laid down by the Supreme Court with regard to appointment of Chief Vigilance Commissioner under the provisions of Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003, is that the empanelling authority is obliged in law to prepare a panel of eligible candidate for consideration of the appointing authority. In the present case, the empanelling authority has recommended the name of respondent no. 3 only, without giving an option for selection. His appointment should, therefore, be set aside. We have perused the materials on record and considered the submissions of the learned counsel for the petitioner. It appears to us on a perusal of Section 16 (1) of the Act that no State Chief Information Commissioner shall hold the office as such after he has attained the age of 65 years. We are informed at the Bar that, after his superannuation from Indian Administrative Service, respondent no. 3 was Chairman of the Bihar Public Service Commission. On completing his tenure there, he joined the present assignment by virtue of the impugned notification dated 19.10.2009. Respondent no. 3 seems to have covered a major portion of his assignment. The 3 petitioner has approached this Court belatedly. We, therefore, do not wish to proceed further in the matter. The writ petition is dismissed. Anand Kr. (S. K. Katriar, J.) ( Ahsanuddin Amanullah, J.)