CIC search panel had 2 applicants for the top job

Times of India: New Delhi: Thursday, January 15, 2015.

The search committee set up by the government for the appointment of the chief information commissioner and other information commissioners had two applicants for the posts on the panel itself the law and the I&B secretary. This prompted the government to reconstitute the committee that is scheduled to meet on January 16 to select the chief of the transparency panel.

The search committee is headed by the cabinet secretary. According to an RTI response based on queries filed by activist Lokesh Batra, the government had initially appointed additional principal secretary to the PM, law secretary P K Malhotra, I&B secretary Bimal Julka, personnel secretary Sanjay Kothari besides NCAP professor Ramesh Chand. Both secretaries of the ministries of law and I&B have applied for the post of the chief information commissioner forcing the government to reconstitute the panel to include secretaries of home affairs and expenditure.

The committee likely to meet on Friday is tasked with creating a shortlist from 203 applicants for the post of the CIC and 553 applicants for the post of information commissioners at the transparency panel. The position of the CIC has been vacant since August 22, spurring a pendency of almost 37,000 cases in the commission.

Once shortlisted, the file for the CIC will be put before the selection committee comprising the PM, leader of opposition and a Union minister which will finalize the name.

For the post of chief information commissioner, all the seven present information commissioners have applied.

This year, the government has not gone as per the convention of selecting the senior-most member of the Central Information Commission as its chief, who is the administrative head, but advertised the post where anyone fulfilling the criteria could apply for the post.

According to the notings, 89 bureaucrats, 37 law experts, 28 from management field, 21 from science and technology, nine from social service, three journalists, five from mass media, and 11 others are among the 203 applicants for the post.