RTI Happenings: AP: HC: Appoint information commissioners soon

[karira]

As reported in expressbuzz.com on 06 Dec 2011:
HC: Appoint information commissioners soon | AP high court | | The New Indian Express

HC: Appoint information commissioners soon


HYDERABAD: In a landmark judgement by the AP High Court over a petition filed by RTI activist G Bhargavi, the state government has been ordered to appoint commissioners to the State Information Commission within four weeks.

Talking on behalf of the petitioner, her counsel advocate DB Rao said the petition was filed on December 1 and the court understood the urgency to fill the posts which have been lying vacant since November 17, 2010.

“The office of the Chief Information Commission is a multi-member body but for the past one year it has been operating with just one chief information commissioner.

This has lead to an increased number of pending cases,” said Rao. Interestingly, the High Courts of Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttaranchal had already passed judgements in the past one year seeking immediate appointment of information commissioners in the respective states.

But while this helped create a ripple effect with even Rajasthan filling the vacant posts, the AP government decided to sleep on the issue. “Bhargavi had earlier requested the chief minister, special chief secretary as well as the governor for the same but everyone had some excuse or other to avoid the appointment procedure,” added Rao. He also mentioned in wake of the noconfidence motion being passed in the Parliament, there was a provision for the existing governor to appoint the required information commissioners with recommendation from the chief secretary.

[karira]

As reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com on 07 Jan 2012:
State dragging its feet on information commissioners - The Times of India

State dragging its feet on information commissioners


HYDERABAD: Last month, the state government had committed to the high court that it would appoint information commissioners for the AP Information Commission within a month. A month later, however, the government has failed to keep its word. The commission's three information commissioners had retired on November 17, 2011, following which the posts have been lying vacant. At least 10 commissioners can be assigned to the body as per the RTI Act.

On December 5, when a case pertaining to delay in the appointment of information commissioners had come up for hearing, the advocate general on behalf of the government had given an oral commitment that the appointments would be completed within four weeks upon which the case was adjourned to January 23. But the state government has so far not made any progress in this regard nor has it filed a counter affidavit.

Advocate D B Rao who had filed this case on behalf of RTI activist G Bhargavi said, "The government had admitted its mistake and had informed that they were in the process of appointing information commissioners but they have not done it so far." Rao said that the information commission in the state has been "void and illegal" for more than a year now as per section 15 (2) of RTI Act.

[karira]

As reported in The Times of India, Hyderabad Edition, on 07 Jan 2012:
Article Window

State dragging its feet on information commissioners


Hyderabad: Last month, the state government had committed to the high court that it would appoint information commissioners for the AP Information Commission within a month. A month later, however, the government has failed to keep its word. The commission’s three information commissioners had retired on November 17, 2011, following which the posts have been lying vacant. At least 10 commissioners can be assigned to the body as per the RTI Act. On December 5, when a case pertaining to delay in the appointment of information commissioners had come up for hearing, the advocate general on behalf of the government had given an oral commitment that the appointments would be completed within four weeks upon which the case was adjourned to January 23. But the state government has so far not made any progress in this regard nor has it filed a counter affidavit. Advocate D B Rao who had filed this case on behalf of RTI activist G Bhargavi said, “The government had admitted its mistake and had informed that they were in the process of appointing information commissioners but they have not done it so far.” Rao said that the information commission in the state has been “void and illegal” for more than a year now as per section 15 (2) of RTI Act. ‘Delay in appointment to official posts undermining RTI Act’

According to the RTI act, the commission should only function if it has a chief information commissioner and at least one information commissioner. “Even other state high courts had given a verdict on this matter and information commissioners were appointed immediately. I hope at least now the government acts fast on the appointments to make the commission legal” he said.

The appointments for these posts are undertaken by the chief minister, leader of opposition and a cabinet minister of the government.

The government’s indifference towards the commission has RTI activists see red. C J Karira, RTI activist, said that the government was killing the RTI Act’s implementation by delaying the appointments. He says that the absence of commissioners would discourage applicants and activists from filing RTI queries and could even lead to laxity among the public information officers. He alleged that the chief minister was busy getting his political act right to focus on this important matter.

The post of the information commissioner, considered to be a political appointment, is of the chief secretary rank. Currently, there is heavy lobbying for these posts from various quarters which has led to further delay in the appointments. The commission has about 11,000 cases pending for disposal.

[karira]

Attached is the affidavit filed by the AP Government in the AP High Court promising that new commissioners will be appointed in the APSIC before 28 Feb 2012.

[karira]

As reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com on 30 Jan 2012:
Article Window

Five likely to make it as ICs

Thanks to the intervention of the AP High Court, the long-awaited appointment of information commissioners will see the daylight in the coming days. The CM garu is slated to meet with opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday and finalise the appointments. The grapevine has it that five information commissioners will be appointed to assist chief information commissioner Jannat Hussain and that they would comprise one retired IAS officer, one retired IPS officer, a retired judge, and one person each from the fields of social work and journalism respectively. Imtiaz Ahmed, a district judge from Chittoor district who quit service is likely to make it from the judge’s quota due to his proximity to Kiran Kumar Reddy. From the retired all-India service category, the names of R M Gonela (IAS) and former Cyberabad commissioner S Prabhakar Reddy are in the reckoning. The CM garu is yet to close in on the names of a journalist and a personality from the world of social work.

[karira]

As per reports, the following 8 Info Commissioners have been appointed in the APSIC:

Prabhakar Reddy, IPS - ex police Commissioner Cyberabad
M Ratan, IPS - DG Enforcement and Vigilance
Judge Imtiaz Ahmed - Resigned as District Judge, Chitoor
Madhukar Raj, IFS, Chief Conservator of Forests, AP (He also applied for post of IUC in the CIC)
Vijay Babu - Editor Andhra Prabha
V Venkateshwarlu - Social Worker
Lamu Tantiya Kumari - Politician, Daughter of ex Congress Minister Koneru Ranga Rao
M Vijaya Nirmala - Politician, Prajya Rajyam Party activist Krishna District

[Sajib Nandi]

As reported by Ibnlive.in.com on Jan 31, 2012
AP govt appoints eight Information Commissioners, IBN Live News


Hyderabad, Jan 31 (PTI) The Andhra Pradesh government tonight appointed eight Information Commissioners under the Right to Information Act (RTI) after keeping the posts vacant for more than 14 months. Surprisingly, the government chose a serving IPS officer for one of the IC posts while two other retired bureaucrats too were appointed. A meeting of the selection committee comprising Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Deputy CM C Damodar Rajanarasimha and Leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu "unanimously" approved the names of eight candidates for the IC posts, an official press release said. Subsequently, Governor E S L Narasimhan issued a notification appointing the eight Information Commissioners, it added. Those appointed as ICs are: C Madhukar Raj, IFS (Retd), S Prabhakar Reddy, IPS (Retd), P Vijaya Babu, Editor of Andhra Prabha Telugu daily, Varre Venkateswarlu, social worker, Lam Tantiya Kumari, advocate (daughter of former deputy chief minister Koneru Ranga Rao), S Imtiaz Ahmed, retired civil judge, M Vijaya Nirmala, academician and M Ratan, currently Director General of Police (Vigilance and Enforcement). Ratan is due for retirement from service at the end of April this year. Following his appointment as IC, Ratan is expected to seek voluntary retirement, government sources said. The IPS officer was chosen for the IC post as he belonged to the Backward Community from the Telangana region, they said.


RTI activists term appointments as 'political'

As reported by Timesofindia.indiatimes.com on Feb 1, 2012
RTI activists term appointments as 'political' - The Times of India


HYDERABAD: City-based RTI activists were most critical of the new appointments and said the selection process lacked transparency and was based on political equations.

C J Karira, noted RTI activist said "The appointments were done in a very opaque manner as no prior announcement was made related to it. There is no clarity on the selection process and on what basis the new commissioners were shortlisted. Also, the government did not call for applications for these posts."

He said the list only reflected the balancing act of the government to keep different sections happy. He also expressed disappointment that selected commissioners hardly had any experience in RTI which will only affect the pendency of the cases.

P Ramakrishna, another city-based RTI activist felt that appointment of civil servants as commissioners made no sense as most of the RTI queries and complaints were on them. "It would have been better if the commissioners were chosen from civil society, RTI activists or normal citizens," he said, describing the appointments as purely political.

[karira]

As reported in deccanchronicle.com on 31 Jan 2012:
CM

CM’s men on board IC

A high-level committee headed by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday appointed eight Information Commissioners. The Chief Minister managed to pick a majority of the nominees of his choice after he successfully managed to bring consensus among the two other committee members, Leader of Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha by accommodating one member each of their choice in the commission.

The new information commissioners are; additional director general of police M. Ratan, former Cyberabad police commissioner S. Prabhakar Reddy, former judge Imtiaz Ahmed, retired principal chief conservator of forests Madhukar Raj, editor of a vernacular daily P. Vijayababu, educationist S. Vijayanirmala, former Congress ZPTC member L. Tantiya Kumari and advocate and Congress activist V. Venkateswarlu.

In appointing the new Information Commissio-ners, the selection panel has maintained the regional and caste equilibrium besides giving priority to Congress leaders. The selection panel, in finalising the names, also laid emphasis on the high educational qualifications of the wannabe commissioners.

The Chief Minister also directed the officials to obtain an affidavit from all the commissioners giving an undertaking that they would not involve themselves in any other activity, be it politics or business. Mr Ratan is the only serving officer who made it to the commission and he would be appointed on quitting the service. He is due for retirement in April.

While the term of commissioners is five years two of them -- Mr Prabhakar Reddy and Mr Madhukar Raju -- will have premature exit as they will attain the age of 65 before end of their five year term.

The meeting, which lasted for about an hour, was held in a cordial atmosphere much to the relief of the government. Earlier, the meeting began with Mr Naidu seeking to know whether the government already made the selection or it wanted to discuss. The Chief Minister said the appointments would be through consensus and read out the bio-data of applicants for the committee members to deliberate.

When Mr Imtiaz Ahmed’s name cropped up, Mr Naidu pointed out that the candidate was in politics for past one decade and contested against Chief Minister. Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy laughed it off. The commission will have new office at APTS premises in BRK Bhavan.

[karira]

As reported in thehindu.com on 01 Feb 2012:
The Hindu : NATIONAL / ANDHRA PRADESH : Three from Krishna appointed information commissioners

Three from Krishna appointed information commissioners

Three persons who belong to Krishna district have been appointed Information Commissioners under Right to Information Act by the State Government.

Lam Tantya Kumari Former ZPTC member and daughter of the late Deputy Chief Minister Koneru Ranga Rao, Muthamsetti Vijaya Nirmala, Chairman, Nova Education Society, Nuzvid, and P. Vijaya Babu, Andhra Prabha Editor have been appointed RTI Information Commissioners.

Ms. Tantya Kumari was ZPTC members from Kankipadu and Tiruvuru and an aspirant for the Congress party ticket for the Tiruvuru Assembly constituency. Ms. Vijaya Nirmala was the PRP candidate for Nuzvid Assembly constituency and was defeated by the TDP candidate. Mr. Vijaya Babu did his education in Vijayawada and worked all over the state after taking up journalism as profession.

[karira]

As reported in thehindu.com on 01 Feb 2012:
The Hindu : NATIONAL / ANDHRA PRADESH : 3 defeated candidates among Info Commissioners

3 defeated candidates among Info Commissioners

Thantiya is daughter of former Deputy CM Koneru Ranga Rao

Among the eight new Information Commissioners selected under the Right to Information Act, there are three who unsuccessfully contested the Assembly elections on Congress, Telugu Desam and Praja Rajyam ticket, though all of them are now in the ruling party.

Prominent among them is S. Imtiaz Ahmed, who contested against Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy from Pileru constituency in Chittoor district on TDP ticket. A former senior Civil Judge, he joined the Congress subsequently and has reaped the reward on Tuesday.

L. Thantiya Kumari is the daughter of former Deputy Chief Minister Koneru Ranga Rao and was the Congress candidate in 2009 elections from Tiruvuru Assembly constituency in Krishna district. She was reportedly backed by former Special Representative of the A.P. government Mallu Ravi.

Similarly, M. Vijaya Nirmala, another Commissioner is the spouse of a person running the Nova group of educational institutions in Krishna district. Ms. Nirmala's husband M. Krishna Rao is brother of Praja Rajyam MLA from Bhimli M. Srinivasa Rao. She had contested the 2009 Assembly elections from Nuzvid constituency in Krishna district. She was also the PR district convenor of Krishna.

Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests C. Madhukar Raj, who belongs to the SC community is a native of West Godavari district and a B.Sc (honours) graduate. S. Prabhakar Reddy, former Cyberabad police commissioner, hails from Medak district while P. Vijaya Babu, Editor of Andhra Prabha, is a post-graduate in Political Science. He hails from the Kapu community and is native of Krishna district.

Varre Venkateswarulu is a management graduate and a post-graduate in law. He is founder president of Centre for Sustainable Development. Belonging to the Yadava community, Mr. Venkateswarulu hails from Nalgonda district. Director General (vigilance and enforcement) M. Ratan belongs to the BC community and is a native of Warangal district.

All these names will be forwarded to the Governor for his approval.



C Madhukar Raj





Prabhakar Reddy




P Vijaya Babu





M Ratan





Tantiya Kumari