Thiruvananthapuram: The government has initiated the process of appointing the chief information commissioner (CIC) for the state, to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Vinson M Paul, who completed his tenure in November.
After calling for the applications, the last date for which was on December 28, the government on last Tuesday issued the order constituting the panel consisting of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, law minister A K Balan and opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala for choosing the new CIC. Based on the committee’s majority recommendation, it is the governor who would appoint the CIC. It is reliably learnt that outgoing chief secretary Vishwas Mehta stands a strong chance for the post.
Even though it is the committee that selects the CIC and the information commissioners, a division bench of the high court had earlier held that the committee is not a very democratic committee, while dealing with a petition against political considerations superseding the eligibility of candidates.
“There is the chief minister and a minister of his cabinet and then the solitary leader of opposition. Surely the decisions are known. But we may add that from the very fact that such senior persons are chosen to constitute the committee, it is expected that they would rise above party affiliations and private political interest and act as a repository of public faith and confidence,” the court had observed in 2017.
The committee’s selection of information commissioners during the tenure of the previous UDF government had ended up in a major controversy when the then governor P Sathasivam returned the recommendations and the high court upheld the governor’s decision. It was widely accused that the committee (read government) had chosen such candidates solely on the basis of political considerations by misinterpreting the eligibility criteria that “commissioners should be persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience from diverse backgrounds”.
The HC had then said that in the case of appointments of CIC and the information commissioners, the governor is not a rubber stamp in performing this duty. As a result of the legal battle, the information commissioners were appointed two years after the CIC was appointed, and the opportunity to appoint the information commissioners fell to the present LDF government, which chose a fresh set of names.
RTI (Amendment) Act, 2019, had downgraded the status and allowances of the CIC from being equivalent to that of election commissioner of India to that of chief secretary. The CIC would be appointed for a term of three years or till the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.