Lucknow, July 11 Complaints against M A Khan, the Chief Information
Commissioner (CIC) of Uttar Pradesh, have been building up for over a
year now, notably since Mayawati came into power last year:
In June 2007, Right to Information (RTI) activist Arvind Kejriwal and
Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey had barged into the chief
information officer's chambers and raised slogans against his
judgments. Kejriwal alleged that Khan's orders always went in favour
of the government and that he had "misbehaved" with complainants.
Even the head of Congress' RTI cell, Shailendra Singh, had accused the
CIC for disposing off cases if the complainant failed to turn up at
the scheduled time. But, on the other hand, the CIC had given several
chances to government officials to appear in connection to RTI cases,
he had alleged.
In March, Singh had submitted a memorandum to Governor T V Rajeswar
asking him to use his powers under Section 17(2) of the RTI Act and
order an inquiry into the allegations against Khan from a sitting
judge of the Supreme Court.
On May 26, a delegation of local activists, lawyers, intellectuals and
retired government officials again met the governor and lodged
complaints. "The governor told us that the matter has already been
referred to the Supreme Court," said Sandeep Pandey.
On June 30, journalists Izhar Ahmad and Afzal Ansari claimed that they
met senior officials of the governor's secretariat regarding the
matter. "The officer told us that the Supreme Court had asked them to
forward relevant documents to the Court," said Ahmad.
Khan was suspended by Governor T V Rajeswar — on the recommendation of
the state chief secretary — for alleged misconduct and irregularities
in appointments. His case has been referred to the Supreme Court as
per the RTI Act for inquiry.
...
by Express News Service, July 12, 2008
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