Former Chief Secy’s name forwarded to Governor

The state government today recommended the name of former Chief Secretary TVSN Prasad as the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) to Governor Bandaru Dattatreya. Besides, five names for the post of Information Commissioner were also recommended.

The consensus on Prasad’s name was arrived at a meeting of the Selection Committee presided over by CM Nayab Singh Saini, and attended by Education Minister Mahipal Dhanda and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a former CM. In the absence of the Leader of the Opposition, the Congress had nominated Hooda to attend the meeting.

Sources said while there was unanimity on Prasad, and five Information Commissioners, there was no consensus on two names for appointment as Information Commissioners. These two vacancies would be filled later.

Earlier, a search committee, headed by Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi and comprising Additional Chief Secretaries Sudhir Rajpal and Sumita Mishra, had prepared a panel of three candidates for each post—one CIC and seven Information Commissioners. The final selection, as mandated by Section 15(3) of the RTI Act, 2005, was by done by the CM-led Selection Committee today.

The government had invited applications for the CIC and seven Information Commissioners on March 4. Subsequently, 345 applications, including from retired IAS, IPS, and HCS officers, besides persons from a cross-section of society, had been received.

Currently, the commission has three Information Commissioners — Jagbir Singh, Pradeep Kumar Shekhawat and Kulbir Chhikara. On account of staff shortage, there are over 7,000 pending RTI applications in the commission.

Favourite parking place for ex-bureaucrats

Since 2005, when former Chief Secretary G Madhavan was appointed the first CIC, the State Information Commission has been a favourite parking place for retired bureaucrats. Later, Naresh Gulati went on to become the CIC. Former Chief Secretaries Meenakshi Anand Choudhary and Urvashi Gulati were appointed Information Commissioners, as also a number of retired IAS officers. The outgoing CIC, Vijay Vardhan, was also a former Chief Secretary.

Haryana Tribune