<span style="color: #222222;">The Supreme Court today expressed concern over vacancies at the Central Information Commission (CIC) and State Information Commissions (SIC).</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The apex court directed the Centre and seven states to file an affidavit within four weeks giving a time schedule for filling up the positions. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Asserting that at present there are four vacancies in the CIC and four more will be created by December this year, a bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan also asked the Centre to explain why the posts in CIC remain vacant even as the advertisement for the same was issued in 2016.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Expressing concern over pendency of cases in the SICs, the bench also asked seven states — Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Kerala, Odisha and Karnataka — to file an affidavit giving a time frame for filling up the vacant posts.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The apex court said "strict view" will be taken if Centre or states default in filing the affidavit within four weeks.</span><br />''  <br />