PM to meet Advani on Tuesday to decide on new CIC head

[Dr. Pathak]

Follow up thread separately for Kiran Bedi as CIC here

http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/34485-...ommission.html

[karira]

Sponsorer

As reported by Mohua Chatterjee of TNN in timesofindia.indiatimes.com on 07 November 2009:
Govt had put off Nov 2 meeting to decide next CIC - India - The Times of India

Govt had put off Nov 2 meeting to decide next CIC

NEW DELHI: The government seems to be in a fix over appointing the next chief information commissioner to succeed Wajahat Habibullah, who has
moved to J&K to head the state information commission there with a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Leader of Opposition L K Advani being put off.

A meeting had been scheduled for November 2 to discuss the next incumbent. The meeting was called off at the last moment and nothing has been scheduled so far on the issue.

It is likely that the government called off the meeting after media reports on the same day said civil society groups were demanding a "transparent" procedure to nominate a CIC, rather than have the political class place bureacrats of their choice in the chair and even suggesting the name of Kiran Bedi.

While the government, it is learnt, was considering promoting one of the two existing information commissioners -- M M Ansari and A N Tiwari -- as chief information commissioner, civil society groups mobilised by RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal objected to the move, claiming that surveys had shown that Ansari and Tiwari had withheld more information than providing them to a huge majority of applicants under RTI Act.

The Kejriwal-led group, that includes actor Aamir Khan and social activist Anna Hazare among others, have written to the PM, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and leader of Opposition L K Advani on the issue. "It is only the Leader of Opposition who has given us a hearing so far," Kejriwal told TOI on Friday.

Advani, it is learnt, has no objection to Kiran Bedi as CIC. According to sources close to Advani, he has no specific names in mind but agrees that there should be an open and transparent procedure to nominate the CIC.

"We have got to know that the government has received a good number of names by now and can choose from any one of them," Kejriwal said, adding, "All we are asking is to reach a consensus through a transparent procedure."

Kejriwal said Indonesia and South Africa, which had institutions like CIC, advertised for the top post and Indonesia received 140 names to choose from last year. "Why can't we too have a transparent system like that," he asked.

[karira]

As reported by IANS in thaindian.com on 17 November 2009:
RTI activist Shekhar Singh being considered for CIC post

RTI activist Shekhar Singh being considered for CIC post

New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) Prominent Right to Information (RTI) activist Shekhar Singh is among the persons being considered for the post of chief information commissioner (CIC), government sources said here.
“Shekhar Singh is one of the prominent RTI activists and his name is among the top two names being considered for the post,” a senior government official told IANS.

Sources said the other person being considered is a senior bureaucrat from Madhya Pradesh and the decision to select the CIC is expected to be taken by the end of this week.

The present CIC Wajahat Habibullah quit the post last month to head the information commission of Jammu and Kashmir on Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s request.

Singh is founder member of the National Campaign For People’s Right To Information (NCPRI), India, a movement working towards making government and society more transparent and accountable.

When asked about being a contender for the CIC post, Singh said he has not heard anything about it from the government.

“I have not heard anything about it from the government. But if any offer like that comes my way, I will consult the other members of my movement. I am part of this movement and can’t take any decision myself,” Singh told IANS.

Singh has been campaigning for several years for the RTI act.

Singh played a very important role in the drafting of the RTI bill in 2004-2005. The Right to Information Act was passed by parliament in 2005.

Currently NCPRI, along with other activists and civil society groups, is planning protests across the country to stop any proposed amendment in the Act. NCPRI has been advocating for proper implementation of the Act rather than amendments.

[karira]

As reported by Nidhi Sharma in dailypioneer.com on 19 November 2009:
The Pioneer > Online Edition : >> RTI activist Shekhar Singh tipped to be next CIC

RTI activist Shekhar Singh tipped to be next CIC

Environmentalist and prominent RTI activist Shekhar Singh is tipped to be the next Central Information Commission (CIC) chief. This move is being seen as Government’s bid to blunt the civil society’s campaign for bringing transparency in appointment of Information Commissioners as activists are unlikely to protest against one of their own.

According to well-placed sources, the name of Shekhar Singh, who is the head of NGO National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), would be put before a three-member selection committee headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of Opposition LK Advani and Law Minister M Veerappa Moily. Sources said the committee is likely to meet before the Prime Minister leaves for the United States on Friday.

The meeting was earlier supposed to be held on Thursday but it got postponed because of the packed schedule of the Prime Minister with first day of Parliament, Cabinet meeting and functions to commemorate Indira Gandhi’s birth anniversary on Thursday. Minister of State for Personnel Prithviraj Chavan said, “We want to find a Chief Information Commissioner as soon as possible. The meeting of the committee will be held very soon.”

The civil society, however, is now seeing the bid to replace bureaucrat and Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist Wajahat Habibullah with NGO activist Singh as a move to silence campaign for transparency in the selection. So far, India has not followed any selection procedure for selecting Information Commissioners for CIC and State commissions. The appointment as Information Commissioner has increasingly become a lucrative post-retirement option for bureaucrats.

RTI activists on Wednesday shot off fresh round of letters to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister and Advani. The letter said, “Several names are floating around as being in consideration list of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). Intense lobbying is believed to be going on for these posts. How did these names make it to that list? Who lobbied for whom? Why were some names found less suitable and others more suitable?

Such secret, unholy and unhealthy lobbying weakens democracy and promotes godfather culture.”

RTI activists like Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey and Arvind Kejriwal have been protesting against the Government’s practice of randomly selecting anybody as Information Commissioner.

Shekhar Singh, an alumnus of the reputed St Stephen’s College of Delhi University, has been a distinguished academician. He is an environmentalist whose major areas of specialisation are environmental management, ethics and administration. He taught at Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA). In 2002, he took voluntary retirement from IIPA first to become director of Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi, and then to head NCPRI. He has also taught at North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, and at St Stephen’s College. It is this record of his that makes him acceptable to the civil society.

Though he is not a babu in the real sense of the word but Singh has held several advisory positions in Government committees and organisations. He has worked as advisor on environment and forests in Planning Commission, secretary of Island Development Authority of India, chaired by Prime Minister (1990-91), was head of Government of India’s statutory Environmental Appraisal Committee for power projects (1991-92) and Supreme Court of India Commissioner for forests and related matters in Andaman and Nicobar Islands (2001-02). He was the only independent member of Narmada Control Authority Sub-Group on Environment.

More recently, he was chair of the Government of India’s task force on governance, transparency, participation and Environmental Impact Assessment in the environment and forest sector for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12).

[karira]

As reported by Anita Joshua and Vidya Subrahmaniam in hindu.com on 21 November 2009:
The Hindu : New Delhi News : Wait for the next CIC continues

Wait for the next CIC continues

Over hour-long critical meeting remains inconclusive

Discussions to resume after Dr. Singh returns from abroad

Advani had some reservations over the names

New Delhi: A crucial meeting to decide a successor to Wajahat Habibullah, who resigned recently as head of the Central Information Commission, remained inconclusive on Friday, suggesting stumbling blocks in the appointment to the topmost Right to Information job.

Held against the backdrop of hectic lobbying and counter-lobbying by RTI activists, the over hour-long meeting had attracted wide attention. In the event, the three-member committee, comprising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani and Human Resource Development Minister Veerappa Moily, could not arrive at a common decision.

Informed sources said discussions would resume after Dr. Singh returned from his upcoming visit to the United States and Trinidad. The indication so far is that Mr. Advani had some reservations over the shortlisted names. However, official channels denied that Mr. Advani had presented a dissenting note, as suggested by RTI activists.

Controversy has dogged the appointment of the CIC with RTI activists, themselves a divided lot, demanding transparency in the selection process. Earlier this month, Kiran Bedi’s name came into circulation following a vigorous public campaign mounted by such prominent names as social activist Anna Hazare, actor Aamir Khan and Magsaysay award winner Arvind Kejriwal. Along with many others, the three wrote to the Prime Minister and to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, arguing that Ms. Bedi had the best credentials for the job. “If you are appointing any other person, please let us know how that person is more suitable than Kiran Bedi,” the letter said.

Since then, several names have been floated by opposing groups of RTI activists, resulting in growing rumour-mongering and speculation. Indeed, the day began on a stormy note with a flood of e-mails from RTI activists who alleged that the government had unilaterally decided on M.M. Ansari, the seniormost Information Commissioner after Mr. Habibullah.