Some of the state information commissions have halted work over a supreme court order directing them to constitute a bench of two members — a judicial member and an expert member — for hearing all cases.

According a news report published in The Hindu, hearings on appeals were suspended in Maharashtra, Kerala, Assam and Rajasthan as the SICs sought clarifications, while proceedings were going on uninterrupted at the commissions in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. SICs hearing RTI Act appeals await clarifications on their future course of action. The Tamil Nadu SIC said it was functioning effectively as three of the six information commissioners had legal background.

The SIC had been functioning for quite some time with just the chief information commissioner (former chief secretary K S Sripathi) and T Srinivasan, a former civil servant, as the lone information commissioner. On September 1, five new commissioners were appointed, raising the strength to six excluding the CIC.

The Karnataka information commission comprising a chief information commissioner and five information commissioners has been functioning normally. The state information commission has six members and none of them have been members of the judiciary. Four of the six are retired bureaucrats and of the two others, one is a member of the bar and the other a member of the medical profession.

The Maharashtra SIC adjourned hearings and sought legal opinion. Hearings have been suspended in all divisions in the state -- Mumbai, Greater Mumbai, Nashik, Nagpur, Pune, Konkan, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Amravati.

The commission said a judicial member may not be available and asked if hearings are still conducted, would it amount to contempt of court. Till it gets clarity from the AG and DoPT, hearings have been suspended.

In Andhra Pradesh, chief information commissioner Jannat Hussain has addressed letters to chief secretary seeking a clarification. Meanwhile, the AP information commission has decided to continue to hear appeals.

Many states reported unfilled information commissioner vacancies, and some said it would take time to implement the changes ordered by the SC. RTI activists were divided over the likely impact of the SC ruling.