CM in place, what about info panel head?

Times of India: Chennai: Sunday, May 24, 2015.

With J Jayalalithaa's return as chief minister on Saturday, RTI activists are keeping their fingers crossed. The government is yet to start the selection process for the new commissioners including the State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC). The post of SCIC has been lying vacant ever since K S Sripathi's term ended in April.

According to the RTI Act, selection of SCIC should be done by a three-member panel comprising the chief minister, the leader of opposition and a cabinet minister to be nominated by the chief minister. However, it is unclear whether Jayalalithaa would meet opposition leader Vijayakanth to select the new SCIC as both leaders don't see eye-to-eye, especially after their war of words in the assembly in 2012.

Vijayakanth is not attending the assembly sessions after he was suspended for 10 days. Jayalalithaa in 2010 had boycotted a meeting of the selection committee under then chief minister M Karunanidhi's chairmanship to choose the SCIC. Jayalalithaa reportedly skipped the meeting after she was denied advance information about the candidates being shortlisted for the post.

Personnel and administrative reforms department officials said the selection process would be initiated soon. "The new CM is expected to take a decision on the appointment of the new SCIC and the commissioners," said an official. Separately, an online petition (http://goo.gl/ynw6Db) demanding the appointment of eminent people as information commissioners who are not connected with bureaucracy or politics has received more than 150 signatures so far.

Activist Nityanand Jayaraman, who met Jayalalithaa in 2010 when she was the opposition leader to prevent the appointment of Sripathi as the SCIC, said successive ruling parties in TN are not bothered about transparency. "It's unfortunate that the SCIC has become a political nominee, defeating the purpose of the transparency act," he said.

Meanwhile, the number of appeals pending before the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission (TNSIC) has crossed 15,000. "The absence of an SCIC also affects coordination and functioning of the commission. RTI appeals to main departments are suppose to be disposed by SCIC," said TNSIC official. The act says that every state can have 11 information commissioners, including the chief information commissioner. However, there are only four information commissioners in TNSIC.

As per Section 15 of RTI Act, "the state chief information commissioner shall be a person of eminence in public life with knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance." SCIC can hold office for five years but should not be above the age of 65.

The post of State Chief Information Commissioner has been lying vacant ever since K S Sripathi's term ended in April.