HYDERABAD: The state government is all set to appoint the chief information commissioner (CIC) and state information commissioners. Former secretary of state legislature Raja Sadaram is likely to be named the chief information commissioner. The state information commission became defunct in April and a PIL was filed in the High Court for its reconstitution. The next date of hearing by the court is September 19.
The government constituted a committee of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, opposition leader K Jana Reddy and deputy chief minister Mohamood Mohammed Ali for recommending the candidates for appointment as commissioners. The committee is likely to sit this week and finalise the names of the commissioners.
According to sources, the chief minister cleared the names for the CIC and two SICs. State legislature former secretary Raja Sadaram is likely to be made the chief information commissioner. Two journalists - Buddha Murali, working with a vernacular newspaper, and Narayana Reddy working with a vernacular TV news channel - are likely to be appointed as state information commissioners. Though, the government can appoint ten commissioners in all, the chief minister is of the view that six commissioners will do following the division of the combined AP. After finalising the names, the list will be sent to the governor for his consent. The government will inform the court of the appointments on September 19.
Till April the those appointed in the combined AP remained in office. It is the first time that the new state government is appointing information commissioners under the Right To Information Act, 2005.
3,600 new cases have accumulated while commission was defunct As many as 3,600 new cases have accumulated in the same period of Commission being defunct. Close to 18,000 cases on the whole are pending before the non-existent commission. The last serving IC, P Vijya Babu vacated his post on May 15 this year after which the appellate body stood neglected until a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in July.
The Andhra Pradesh and Telangana High court in August had given both States six weeks to set up the commission as mandated by the RTI act 2005. Following which Andhra Pradesh rented a new office at Mangalagiri in Amaravati and shifted base there. “The bifurcation of the cases post the formation of the State can be done without much difficulty. The cases from before the formation for the state can be bifurcated based on the district they were filed from, this will help us identify which of the two Telugu state the case is from,” said an official who did not wish to be named. The cases post the formation of Telangana are easy to bifurcate as they are labelled accordingly, he added.
But the bifurcation of the cases can only be initiated after the appointment of CICs for both states. “So far the state government has received over 200 applications for the post of CIC and ICs ad the posts come with good perks, but the positions may end up being political appointees like last time,” said the official.