Times of India: Shimla: Monday, May 29, 2017.
Leader of opposition in himachal assembly Prem
Kumar Dhumal on Saturday backed out of the scheduled meeting of selection
committee that was to decide on the name of the next chief information
commissioner of the state. Dhumal instead sought the attorney general's opinion
on the issue of 'person with eminence in public life'. The BJP leader also
referred to the 2012 'Union of India v/s Namit Sharma', where the apex court
had suggested that the chief information commissioner, both at state- and the
Union-level, should be a former member of judiciary.
Sources said before the meeting of the selection
committee, Dhumal raised objections on some issues before the committee through
a letter. In the letter, he stated that in the last meeting he had sought the
opinion of attorney general about the constitutional position of the concerned
appointment, which has not been received yet while government has taken the
opinion of advocate general and law secretary that is not sufficient regarding
the appointment of chief information commissioner.
Sources said though there are many contenders for
the post but names of senior IAS officer Narender Chauhan and former chairman
of state public service commission K S Tomar have emerged as front runners.
An RTI activist Dev Ashish Bhattacharya had
recently filed a complaint with the governor, chief justice, chief minister and
the leader of opposition, who are part of selection committee, for delay in
selecting the state chief information commissioner. In his complainant he said
for the past one year, the post was being advertised and contenders had applied
but election process did not initiate for many months.
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