NEW DELHI: Given the manner in which RTI has caught on in less than
three years, the government has decided to enlarge the Central
Information Commission (CIC) adding four members to the existing five.
Since the process of appointments under the transparency law has
however been shrouded in secrecy, RTI activists have thrown a spanner
in the works by proposing eminent persons who are willing to serve as
information commissioners without taking salary, allowances or even
government bungalow.
Their credentials to sit in judgment on RTI appeals are formidable.
Jagdeep Chokkar and Trilochan Sastry are IIM professors who fought for
the electoral reform that makes candidates declare their assets and
criminal antecedents. Shailesh Gandhi, an engineer from IIT Bombay, is
the convener of ''national campaign for people's right to
information'' spearheading the RTI movement. H Sudarshan, a doctor who
was awarded Padma Shree for his work in rural areas, has been
vigilance director with Karnataka's Lokayukta (ombudsman).
The ones who proposed their names in a letter to UPA chairperson Sonia
Gandhi on August 17 are no less eminent: Anna Hazare, Medha Patkar and
Magsaysay awardees Arvind Kejriwal and Sandeep Pandey.
According to the letter, Chokkar and the other three are willing to
draw a token salary of Re 1 per month - their sole motive in taking up
the assignment of information commissioner being ''to further the
cause of transparency in governance''.
The unusual strategy adopted by civil society of suggesting
alternative names may put pressure on the department of personnel and
training (DoPT), which faced flak in 2005 when four of the five
information commissioners appointed by it turned out to be
ex-bureaucrats. The present babu-domination is despite a broad
provision in the RTI Act that the information commissioners shall be
''persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and
experience in law, science and technology, social service, management,
journalism, mass media or administration and governance''.
The RTI activists chose to address the letter to Sonia Gandhi because
she is credited with pushing the historic legislation in the face of
resistance from ministers and bureaucrats. Pointing out that the
country has no dearth of eminent people who are willing to work
selflessly as information commissioners, the August 17 letter says:
''It is high time that the government stopped confining its choice to
retiring bureaucrats or to people who cultivate powers that be in
anticipation of getting such posts.''
While confirming that it has decided to enlarge CIC, the minister in
charge of DoPT, Prithviraj Chavan, told TOI that the appointments were
being made according to the prescribed procedure which involves a
selection committee consisting of himself, the prime minister and the
leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha. As for the civil society's
grievance about the lack of transparency in the appointments, Chavan
said: ''That can't be a public process.''
But how can appointments under RTI be secretive? ''RTI does not mean
that the names have to be disclosed while the process is still on,''
....
by Manoj Mitta ,TNN, 19 Aug 2008
Shri A. N Tiwari has not
Shri A. N Tiwari has not been impartial while considering RTI appeals against bureaucrats as there is no provision of impeachment by complaining to the the Chief Information Commissioner. I have his judgments which are biased and favouring officers who misused their Offices & caused irrgularities in the Govt deptt. THe facts of the case are already with the NGO Kabir of whom Shri Arvind Kejriwal, SHir Manish Sisodia & SHri Neeraj kumar are the founders . Till such time Shir Tiwari is there in Office no appeal can be settled in the applicants favour has his inclination is towards favouring the bureaucracy.Shir Tiwari has crossed his powers & disclosed certain facts which even the Apex Court of the country has not done .
RTI: Govt replaces Modi
RTI: Govt replaces Modi whistle blower with civil society nominee
by Manoj Mitta, TNN in timesofindia, 02 September 2008
NEW DELHI: In a balancing act, the government has replaced an officer
who blew the whistle on the Narendra Modi government with a civil
society nominee as one of the four new information commissioners under
the RTI Act.
Bowing to pressure from L K Advani, who is part of the selection
committee in his capacity as leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha,
the government put RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi in place of former IPS
officer R B Shreekumar who had blown the whistle on the Modi
government in the context of the Gujarat riots.
The police lobby still has something to cheer about even after the
rejection of Shreekumar's candidature. For, the other three appointees
include special CBI Director M L Sharma who has been on leave ever
since he was overlooked for the top post in his organisation around a
month ago.
The most controversial appointment is however of personnel secretary
Satyananda Mishra, who heads the very department that administers RTI.
Since the existing five members of the Central Information Commission
(CIC) already include his predecessor A N Tiwari, Mishra's appointment
has set a pattern of these coveted postings being cornered by
successive personnel secretaries.
Another reason why Mishra's appointment has raised eyebrows is his
record of defying the direction of CIC to drop the claim made by his
department on its website that file notings of bureaucrats and
ministers could not be accessed under RTI.
Annapurna Dixit, widow of former NSA J N Dixit, has come as a surprise
nominee as her credentials to sit in judgment on RTI appeals against
various central departments are unknown. An IIT engineer turned RTI
activist, Shailesh Gandhi was among the four alternative names
proposed last month by civil society leaders Anna Hazare, Medha Patkar
and Magsaysay awardees Arvind Kejriwal and Sandeep Pandey as part of
their strategy to put pressure on the government to look beyond the
pool of ex-bureaucrats while selecting information commissioners.
Gandhi's appointment will create a piquant situation for the other
three as he says that he will function as an information commissioner
for a token salary of one rupee and not take the bungalow and other
perks. Gandhi confirmed that he would stick by his undertaking of
living off his own savings even as he is still awaiting the
notification of his appointment.
"I will draw a one rupee salary and I will make my own arrangement for
accommodation in Delhi," said Gandhi, who is a resident of Mumbai.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/RTI_Govt_replaces_Modi_whistle_...
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