RTI activists to stage dharna on 11th.

IBNLive.com:Sunday, February 12, 2012.

HYDERABAD: RTI activists across the state have called for a protest at the Dharna Chowk here on Saturday against the appointment of eight information commissioners to the AP Information Commission. Terming the appointment a farce, B Ramakrishna Raju, convenor of the United Forum for RTI Campaign, said that the forum members had met the governor on Thursday and presented the many flaws in the appointments during a 45minute meeting. "Since the file containing the nominees' list is yet to reach the governor with the signature of the opposition party leader, he listened to us patiently and promised to look into the issue. But to further drive home our point, we have planned the dharna on Saturday,'' he said.The youth wing of the forum is expected to lead the dharna, with the support to be provided by K Padmanabhaiah, former Union home secretary and K Madhava Rao, former chief secretary.Around 200 people, including RTI activists and civil society members are expected to converge at the venue for the dharna which will be held between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. It may be recalled that a selection panel, comprising chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Opposition Leader N Chandrababu Naidu among others, had recently selected eight persons as the information commissioners.Noting that some of the selected persons had actively participated in politics, Padmanabhaiah said the selection of such persons is not correct as the RTI Act mandates that eminent persons in a variety of fields be picked for the statutory posts.