Info commissioners: Court seeks appointment details

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday issued notices to the two state governments on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to lay down the procedure for the selection and appointment of state information commissioners.

The petitioner,Advocate H C Arora,submitted that the procedure should contain provisions for advertisement of vacancies,setting up of A committee and calling for intelligence reports about antecedents of candidates before clearing their appointments. He has also sought the quashing of the selection and appointment of IAS officer (retd) Bidhi Chand and Chander Parkash,a journalist,as information commissioners in Punjab.

Arora alleged that Chander Parkash and the information commissioner designate — selected by the Punjab government — had remained under suspension for a couple of months while in service of his present employer. The government has withheld this fact from the selection committee and the Governor,he claimed.