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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Babus as information commissioners: RTI activists see red by Sukhbir Siwach & Anita Singh

Babus as information commissioners: RTI activists see red by Sukhbir Siwach & Anita Singh

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published Published on Apr 1, 2012   modified Modified on Apr 1, 2012

RTI activists in Haryana have decided to protest against the appointment of bureaucrats as state information commissioners (SIC) directly after their superannuation "without transparency". They have also planned to move the Punjab and Haryana high court against the appointment of outgoing chief secretary, Urvashi Gulati as the SIC.

Urvashi Gulati's husband Naresh Gulati is chief state information commissioner while her elder sister, Meenaxi Anand Chaudhry had also been state information commissioner.

After a meeting of the selection committee recently, the state government had reportedly recommended the name of Gulati as the next SIC. However, a member of the committee and leader of opposition in the state assembly, Om Prakash Chautala has already demanded that a fresh panel be prepared to appoint the SIC. Chautala had told The Times of India that he had given his dissenting note in the meeting as there was no panel of candidates to select the SIC.

The development has upset the RTI activists, who have already been demanding transparent procedure, for appointment of SICs. "We would stage protests at district headquarters to protest the backdoor entry for such prestigious posts," announced Subhash Chander, state convener of Harayana Soochna Adhikar Manch. The manch has 3,500 RTI activists as its members.

Subhash Chander said that they would also write a letter to the Haryana governor seeking his intervention to stop the appointments of retired or outgoing bureaucrats as the SIC. "These posts should be advertised so that eligible persons can apply. There should be preference for those who already have been working in the field of RTI," he suggested.

"As RTI activists, many times, we have to fight against the bureaucrats when they don't supply the information under the act. But government has repeatedly been appointing retired bureaucrats as state information commissioners making our struggle tougher," he added.

Echoing similar sentiments, Panipat-based RTI activist, PP Kapoor, said that information sought by him in regard with property details of the state bureaucrats had not been provided to him for the last two-and-a-half-years.

Kapoor, who had remained at the forefront of using the RTI to expose several irregularities in the working of various government departments, said that it was unjust to even appoint bureaucrats as info panel members. "The RTI act clearly states that intellectuals, academicians, retired judges or armymen, journalists and activists could be appointed as info panel members," he maintained. He said that though seven out of 10 posts were lying vacant, the government had not bothered to fill the vacancies by considering the provisions of the act.

The Times of India, 31 March, 2012, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-31/india/31265863_1_rti-activists-information-commissioners-state-information


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