The
Hindu: Kannur: Sunday, 20 December 2015.
The United
Democratic Front (UDF) government finds itself in a fix over the process of
appointment to four posts of State Information Commissioners (SICs) in the wake
of the High Court Division Bench’s directive last month to fill the vacancies
in six weeks. The posts have been lying vacant following the retirement of M.N.
Gunavardhanan, Kurias Kumbalakuzhy and Soni Thengamom as also the demitting of
office by C.S. Sasikumar.
Another post
has been lying vacant since K. Natarajan was suspended in 2012 following an
allegation that he tried to interfere with the Vigilance probe into alleged
gifting of government land by V.S. Achuthanandan to his relative when he was
Chief Minister.
Though the
government had told the court that a committee had been constituted as per the
Right to Information Act with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Industries Minister
P.K. Kunhalikutty and Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan as members to
make the appointments, it is yet to shortlist candidates for the posts. ‘‘The
problem is that it is difficult to find persons of eminence who are not
connected with political parties,’’ a source close to the government says.
While hectic
moves are on by ruling parties to get their respective candidates appointed as
SICs, the provisions in the RTI Act on the appointment of commissioners are an
obstacle to their designs, source says.
The
appointment of Mr. Thengamom by the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF)
government was questioned by RTI activists citing that he was not qualified to
be appointed as he was an active member of the Communist Party of India (CPI)
at the time of appointment. As per Section 15 (6) of the Act, SICs should not
hold any office of profit or have connection with any political party, among
others.
Sources in
the government say it is not easy to find a person of eminence with no
political connection. The government is aware that RTI activists are closely
watching if the appointments are in compliance with the rule.
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