Sridhar Acharyulu requests President Ram Nath Kovind to ensure that Modi govt doesn’t hire retired bureaucrats this time and maintains CIC’s independence.
New Delhi: Former Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu Monday requested President Ram Nath Kovind to strengthen the Right to Information Act (RTI) by protecting it from “attempts to dilute it by (an) undesirable amendment and also from tactics like starving by non-appointment (of commissioners) or filling it with majority of former bureaucrats”.
In a letter to the President dated 10 December, the firebrand former information commissioner drew Kovind’s attention to the eight vacancies in the commission since the retirement of four commissioners, including the chief, last month.
“The Government of India should have completed process of appointing the Chief Information Commissioner before the retirement of Shri Radha Krishna Mathur to be ready to take over the administration of the Commission without any gap, because the RTI Act has not envisaged any vacancy in that high position at any point of the time,” said the letter.
“The Commission has experienced absence of administration for several months as the Government did not appoint Chief Information Commissioner, three years ago, after retirement of the then Chief,” Acharyulu pointed out.
“Unfortunately, now also that position is left vacant since 22 November, 2018,” he said.
“The delay in information amounts to denial of information,” he added.
Also read: This law professor is a ‘permanent minority’ in information panel, but he’s undeterred
‘Don’t hire retired bureaucrats’
He said that it is “great news” that the Narendra Modi government has convened a meeting Tuesday of the Selection Committee consisting of the Prime Minister, one cabinet minister and the Leader of the Opposition to select the Commissioners as envisaged by RTI Act. However, he urged the President to ensure that the government does not consider retired bureaucrats for the job.
According to Section 12(5) of the RTI Act, the government has “a statutory duty” to select at least one person of eminence each in public life with wide knowledge and experience from the fields of law, science, technology, social service, management, journalism, and mass media.
“As the Government has already appointed three eminent persons with experience in administration, who are working now, the Committee, as a principle, should not consider the persons from this field for this time,” he said.
However, if for any reason, the Government decides to select a retired bureaucrat for the position of chief, it should ensure that “he had credentials of integrity, commitment towards transparency and has never supported or promoted any kind of secrecy in administration,” he said.
“The people have a right to know this kind of background of the Chief and other Commissioners,” he added.
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Independence of CIC
Acharyulu, a law professor, also sought to ensure that the independence of the institution of the commission is maintained.
“The Government shall ensure that it will not interfere in the functioning of Central Information Commission (CIC) and also to insulate the office of Chief Information Commissioner or individual commissioner from direct or indirect pressures or interferences from any of its offices such as PMO or the Ministry of DoPT,” he said.
According to sources in the CIC, Acharyulu shared a somewhat fraught relationship with former CIC Mathur, who had sought to rein him in on at least two occasions — ostensibly at the behest of the government.
Acharyulu also requested the President to ensure that the government does not bring proposed amendments to the RTI Act, and shelve it permanently.
“The Selection Committee should also ensure that the new Commissioners appointed shall have the complete independence with regard to the term, status and salary as provided by the RTI Act,” he said.
“Their term, status and salary shall not be ‘as prescribed’ by the Central Government’ as contemplated by the present Government in the proposed Amendment to RTI Act,” he added.
In a separate letter to the President last week, Acharyulu had alleged that the government was intimidating the CIC by threats of litigation, and sought his intervention in the matter.
ThanQ sir many many thanks
Acharyalu is typical case of raising a false alarm. His antecedents will reveal he is part of the Congress eco-system and rejects anything but what he was fed till 2014.
Unlike Lutyens debates, these are not engineered hence the high voltage of truth Vs Lies from Congress and opposition.
I will believe both sides in these rather than fake champagne debates in Lutyens studios