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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | RTI Act being used to dislodge CIC himself

RTI Act being used to dislodge CIC himself

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published Published on Jan 5, 2010   modified Modified on Jan 5, 2010

Ironically, the Right to Information (RTI) Act is being used to unseat Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Wajahat Habibullah himself. 
 
Using documents got using the Act, Mumbai-based RTI activist Girish Mittal on Monday served a legal notice on the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Ministry of Personnel & Grievances (DoPT) saying that Habibullah, whose resignation is still hanging fire, is being accorded preferential treatment and that he should be relieved of his post immediately.

Mittal's contention is that the Section 13(4) of the RTI Act says that the resignation of the information commmissioners, including the CIC, becomes effective the moment it is submitted to the President of India and it cannot be revoked under any circumstances. Documents procured by him using the RTI Act show that the Department of Legal Affairs concurred with this view in the case of central information commissioner Omita Paul.

"Habibullah's resignation is not being accorded the same legal treatment as that of Paul," said Mittal.

Paul was advisor to External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherji till general elections were declared in March 2009. She was selected as central information commissioner shortly before the Lok Sabha polls in April 2009. Paul took oath on May 13 last year and resigned on June 26, a month and a half after Mukherjee was appointed Finance minister. She was appointed as the FM's advisor on the very same day she resigned without waiting for the President's assent to her resignation as central information commissioner.

The documents cited in the legal notice are part of about 350 pages which Mittal got in late November 2009 in response an RTI plea to DoPT. In December 2008 DoPT had denied having such documents and Habibullah had upheld this denial.

In earlier years, PMO, DoPT and Habibullah had denied such information pertaining to appointment, retirement and resignation of Information Commissioners by citing the Official Secrets Act 1923.

Habibullah's woes

After serving as CIC for four years, Habibullah tendered his resignation on October 20, 2009 in order to become chief State Information Commissioner of J & K. He would have been the first to hold this post.

However, on December 4, 2009, the Supreme Court served him a contempt notice for publishing on the CIC website a detailed reasoned order concerning the need for transparency in the elevation of high court judges to the SC. The SC said the order lowered the dignity of the court.

Ever since Habibullah tendered his resignation, RTI activists are having a running battle with the government over the need for transparency in the appointment of information commissioners.

What the legal notice says

The legal notice urges the Union government to take three steps to set right the wrongs: Firstly, give effect to resignation of Habibullah as CIC retrospectively from the exact date and time that it was tendered to the Secretariat of President of India.

Secondly, recover the salary and other pecuniary benefits given to Habibullah in his capacity as CIC as it is public money.

Thirdly, declare as null and void, all decisions taken and orders pronounced by him in his capacity as CIC after tendering his resignation. 


The Times of India, 5 January, 2010, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/RTI-Act-being-used-to-dislodge-CIC-himself/articleshow/5410903.cms
 

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