Who better than Big Brother ?

Niranjan.Kaggere; Bangalore Mirror; Monday, October 25, 2010
Fifty two retired IAS, KAS and IPS officers have applied for the post of chief information commissioner in the state. Rest assured, public information will continue to be as scarce as Mungaru Male in May

Someone should file an RTI to find out the various Orwellian ways the state stonewalls free information. One tactic is to keep the posts of chief information commissioner (CIC) and information commissioners (IC) vacant, as it is now. Since that cannot be done on an indefinite basis, the next best thing is to fill these slots with civil lifers — IAS, IAS officers — men and women who have perfected dissembling into a fine art, except, of course, when it is convenient to snitch on their bosses.

Sources in the department of personnel administration and reforms (DPAR) revealed that as many as 89 bureaucrats, top cops and judicial officers, apart from the odd politician, have applied for the five vacant posts — of CIC and four ICs — in the state information commission.

The CIC’s post has been vacant since the retirement of K K Mishra in July 2010. And with IC K A Thippeswamy retiring on Oct 21, there are currently only two ICs — H N Krishna and Virupakshappa. Besides, the state government created three additional posts of IC in the beginning of this year and all of them are vacant as well.

Fifty two retired IAS and IPS officials have applied for the post of CIC and yet another 37 retired IAS, KAS and judicial officers for the posts of ICs.

PLENTY OF PERKS

So, what’s the big deal about these posts? Well, the designation of CIC is equivalent to the post of a supreme court justice and brings perks like a beacon car, official quarters and salary up to Rs 80,000 along with a part of the pension.

As it is, applications for these five posts have not been formally called for. The 89 applications have to be screened by an

expert committee headed by the chief minister. The opposition leader in the assembly and one cabinet minister is also part of the committee. The selected candidates are referred to the governor for approval. However, no one seems to be interested in screening the applications and filling the posts, said a senior official from the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms.

As a result of the vacant posts, citizens in Karnataka rarely get information within 30 days, as the RTI Act promises. Not surprising that the commission has more than 12,000 cases pending before it.

Sources in the information commission also told Bangalore Mirror that if an application or complaint is listed for hearing, it would take four months for that to happen. Though a fully-staffed information commission can dispose of 600-630 applications every month, it is now impossible due to the shortage of officers.

‘Don't load IC with babus’

Be it a bureaucrat or activist, at the end of the day it does not make any difference when it comes to work. However, I feel that the composition of the Information Commission (IC) should not be ponderous with bureaucrats. In fact, a couple of previous surveys have revealed that the percentage of bureaucrats in Information Commission should not be more than 50 per cent. Besides, there should be a proper screening committee to appoint the Information Commissioner as currently everything is done in an opaque manner.