Who cares about info watchdogs’ appointment? Not Mr Chautala

While the state government claimed that he remained absent despite due intimation,Chautala said he was neither invited to nor informed about the meetings.

“I was never called for the selection panel’s meetings. This is because the ruling party does not believe in democracy. They appointed their own people without informing the Opposition,” Chautala told The Indian Express.

As per the Section 15 of the RTI Act,the CIC and commissioners are appointed by the Governor on the recommendations of a committee consisting of the chief minister,who is its chairperson,a cabinet minister nominated by the CM and leader of Opposition in the Assembly.

An RTI query filed by The Indian Express revealed that on October 20,2005,the state government constituted a committee,which included besides Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda,Opposition leader Om Prakash Chautala and the then excise,taxation and forests minister Venod Sharma. This was the first such panel set up after the Act came into force.

A meeting of the committee was held on October 28,2005,at Haryana Niwas for appointment of former chief secretary G Madhavan as the CIC. However,Chautala did not turn up. As per the minutes of the meeting “… it was telephonically confirmed that he (Chautala) is not attending the meeting. It can,therefore,be inferred that he has decided not to attend it despite due intimation.” On October 31,2005,the then Governor AR Kidwai cleared the file.

For the appointment of state information commissioner Meenaxi Anand Chaudhary,the same committee met at the same venue on May 4,2006. This time,Venod Sharma was the PWD,power and environment minister. Chautala again failed to attend the meeting,and the file was sent to the Governor,who cleared it on May 5,2006.

A year later the state appointed five commissioners,for which a meeting of the selection committee was held at the CM’s office on December 28,2007. It was attended by the CM and HS Chatha,the then agriculture minister,and Chautala again marked his absence. The minutes stated that he had verbally expressed his inability to attend the meeting.

However,the committee cleared the names of Asha Sharma,Lt Gen JBS Yadav,Ashok Mehta,MR Ranga and Premvir Singh. The recommendations were placed before the Governor,who put his seal of acceptance on December 31,2007.

When Madhavan retired in October 2010,a new selection panel was constituted for appointment of the new CIC. All the members were informed about the meeting to be held on October 20. Documents provided in response to the RTI plea stated that the PA of Chautala,who received the notice on his behalf,said that the leader of Opposition was abroad and could not attend it. On October 28,Governor Jagannath Pahadia cleared the appointment of Meenaxi Anand Chaudhary as the CIC.

When she retired on April 28 this year,another new panel,with Hooda,Chautala and health minister Geeta Bhukkal was set up. The meeting was held on May 20,and the committee recommended the name of IAS officer Naresh Gulati. For the first time,Chautala marked his presence.

“Yes,I went for appointment of Gulati and also signed the file as I was invited for the meeting,” Chautala said while reiterating that he was not informed about the other meetings.

When told that the government provided certified copies of appointment files,which state that he was duly informed,he said,“This is wrong. They never sought my consent”.