BHOPAL: The state government move to appoint chief information commissioner (CIC) by the end of April may hit a roadblock with the Supreme Court stating Friday that it would lay down guidelines to ensure that posts of information commissioners at the centre and state commissions do not become "property of a political set-up".
The post of state’s CIC is lying vacant following the retirement of P P Tiwari on March 26 this year. There are strong indications that chief secretary Avani Vaish, who is scheduled to retire on April 30, is in the race for the top RTI Commission post. While an information commissioner Mahesh Pandey relinquished his post on February 24 as his tenure ended, nine posts of information commissioners are also lying vacant in the state.
The apex court bench, comprising Justice G S Singhvi and Justice S J Mukopadhaya on Friday made it clear that the court would now "lay down the law," taking strong exception to the manner in which candidates were being hand-picked by governments without making vacancies for appointment of information commissioners under the RTI Act known to the public. The court’s observations came while hearing an appeal by those whose appointment as commissioners to the Tamil Nadu information commission was set aside by the TN high court.
"Now, the state government cannot take any decision in haste. For the sake of ensuring greater transparency in the appointments under the historic transparency law, either the state will now have to wait till Supreme Court lays down the guidelines or it would have to follow the procedure adopted by the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) for appointment of commissioners to the central information commission," RTI activist Ajay Dubey told TOI.
"We will submit a memorandum to the Governor soon, seeking a freeze on all appointments to state information commission till the Supreme Court laid down the guidelines," he said.
RTI activists had already submitted a memorandum to the state government in November last year, pointing out lack of transparency in the selection and appointment of information commissioners and demanding action to ensure that appointments are made in a fair and transparent manner. Subsequently, the governor had forwarded the memorandum to the chief minister’s office.
Bureaucratic circles are tight-lipped over immediate fallout of the SC move to frame guidelines as name of incumbent state chief secretary Avani Vaish, IAS officer of 1975 batch, is already in circulation for state CIC post.
"I think you are putting the cart before the horse. As of now, the procedures for selection are clearly mentioned in the RTI Act. It’s a matter to be examined whether the procedure for appointments to information commissions in all states could be stalled till formulation of any such guidelines by the court," quipped a senior state government official.