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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Information commissioners want transparent selection process

Information commissioners want transparent selection process

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published Published on Oct 15, 2010   modified Modified on Oct 15, 2010

Five years after Right to Information (RTI) Act came into existence, Information Commissioners feel that there should be more transparency in their appointments. A survey conducted by Parivartan , an NGO, among state and central Information Commissioners , the final appellate authorities for RTI Act grievances and complaints, has found that 66% of commissioners surveyed want a transparent selection process. The survey found that Information Commissioners had reservations about the current appointment process.

According to the RTI Act, an Information Commissioner has to be a person of eminence in public life “with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, management, social service, journalism, mass media or administration and governance”. The commissioner cannot be an elected people’s representative. A panel comprising prime minister, opposition leader and a cabinet minister nominated by PM appoints Central Information Commissioners. There is no open appointment process where a person can apply for the job. This has increasingly led to former bureaucrats being accommodated in the commissions.

The survey reveals that of 44 Information Commissioners who participated in the survey, 29 favoured an open and transparent process requiring proper application procedure. Of the 29 Information Commissioners, 26 felt that such a transparent process can be followed under the present RTI Act but remaining three felt that the Act would have to be amended.

The survey revealed sharp opinions amongst Information Commissioners, who are entrusted with the job of implementing RTI Act at state and central levels. H N Krishna , Information Commissioner of Karnataka, told surveyors that former bureaucrats should not be appointed commissioners. “Former bureaucrats should not become information commissioners. How can somebody who has been in bureaucracy for 35 years, become a Mahatma overnight? Only a journalist, activist or social worker should become an information commissioner,” Mr Krishna, himself a former bureaucrat, told surveyors. His colleague K A Thippeswamy also said that some specific procedure should be laid down for choosing information commissioners.

Maharashtra Information Commissioner Vijay Kuvalekar said in the survey that a transparent process which leaves no scope for lobbying should be followed. Favouring a transparent process, Tamil Nadu Information Commissioner S Ramakrishnan said “There are so many incompetent information commissioners in the country. It is very bad for RTI Act.”

Most Information Commissioners of the northeastern states felt that a transparent system needed to be followed. Information Commissioner of Nagaland Dr W Pongsing Konyak suggested an advertisement in the newspapers to appoint commissioners. Interestingly, Manipur Information Commissioner C H Birendra Singh questioned his appointment process and said, “In my case there was no call for candidates. I just applied on my own. But I think it is better to keep an advertisement so that all eligible people can apply.”

RTI activists have been fighting for bringing transparency in the appointments. With 22 Commissioners retiring all over India by November this year, the governments are actively looking for replacements. Successive RTI applications filed by non-profit organisations have revealed that in the absence of any set rules of appointments, names of candidates who apply for the job of information commissioners are not even put up before the selection committee.


The Economic Times, 15 October, 2010, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Information-commissioners-want-transparent-selection-process/articleshow/6751335.cms


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