Are bureaucrats alone eminent for appointment to CIC, asks SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday was surprised to find that only bureaucrats were found suitable for appointment as information commissioners even as a PIL petitioner punched holes in the process adopted by the search and selection committees to fill the posts.

The search committee had sent 14 names, comprising 13 bureaucrats and a retired high court judge, to the selection panel. Petitioner Anjali Bhardwaj’s counsel Pranav Sachdeva alleged that “two of the 14 shortlisted candidates — Suresh Chandra and Ameising Luikham — had not even applied for the post”, making a mockery of transparency that must be given primacy in the selection process for such important posts.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer said, “There is some truth in the petitioner’s allegation that you (government) did not find anyone other than a bureaucrat suitable for the post of information commissioner.

“We are speaking from experience. We interview a lot of bureaucrats for appointment as administrative members of various tribunals. They have a general attitude that bureaucrats are the only class which is good. No doubt they have wide experience being in administrative service for such a long period of time. But it is surprising that you did not find anyone eminent belonging to other categories as suitable for posts of information commissioners.” The bench then reserved verdict on the PIL.

Sachdeva said it was the practice with both the Centre and state governments to appoint bureaucrats as information commissioners and that too through a process which left much to be desired in terms of transparency. The advertisements issued to invite applications did not disclose the terms and conditions of service and the posts remained vacant for years, leading to RTI applications remaining pending for years and sliding into irrelevance, he said.

The Centre had recently filled four of the eight vacancies of information commissioners in the Central Information Commission. Sachdeva said the fresh advertisement inviting applications for posts in the CIC must be done through a transparent method and by adopting a rational criteria.

“The Union of India must disclose the list of shortlisted candidates and all eligible candidates, including their background, on its website during the process of appointment so as to enable the public to raise objections, if any, against any candidate who is in the zone of consideration,” he said.

Additional solicitor general Pinky Anand said the process of appointment specified in the law was scrupulously followed and claimed the petitioner was making unfounded