Business
Standard: New Delhi: Wednesday, 10 September 2014.
The
government Tuesday said a process is underway for selection of the Chief
Information Commissioner (CIC), a post which fell vacant last month.
Minister of
State (Independent Charge) for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Jitendra Singh said a "procedure is in process" for selecting the
CIC.
The post of
head of the transparency watchdog fell vacant Aug 22 after Rajiv Mathur
relinquished the post as the sixth CIC.
Singh said
there are "some vacancies" in the Central Information Commission and they
would be filled soon.
Answering
queries, he said that on the question of selection of Leader of Opposition, the
government has sought opinion of the Lok Sabha Secretariat on the matter.
"We have
sought opinion of the Lok Sabha Secretariat, after which we will proceed in the
matter. We will have a considered opinion," the minister said.
The
appointment of the CIC has to be done by the president on the recommendation of
a three-member selection committee headed by the prime minister, and comprising
Leader of Opposition and a union cabinet minister to be nominated by the prime
minister.
If Leader of
Opposition has not been named, as is the case currently, the head of the single
largest group in the opposition in the Lok Sabha should be considered, according
to provisions of the RTI Act, 2005.
The Central
Information Commmissio is the apex body for redressing Right to Information
(RTI) complaints.
On the
question of Leader of Opposition (LoP), the Department of Personnel and
Training (DoPT) wrote to the Lok Sabha Secretariat, which informed the DoPT
that there is no recognised LoP in the Lok Sabha.
Lok Sabha
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has rejected the demand of the Congress that its
nominee be recognised as LoP.
The Congress,
which has 44 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, is 11 short to stake claim for
LoP. It is the second largest party after the Bharatiya Janata Party that has
282 seats in the lower house.
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