The search committee for selection of the chief information commissioner did not shortlist two senior information commissioners who had applied for the position and brought in four others who did not show interest in the post, documents made public by the government show. Now even the Supreme Court wants to know. It has reportedly asked the Centre to explain how those who did not apply for the post were shortlisted.
The search committee led by Cabinet secretary P.K. Sinha had finalised five names to be put before the selection panel, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprising finance minister Arun Jaitley and leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge.
All the three commissioners in the central information commission — Sudhir Bhargava, Bimal Julka and Divya Prakash Sinha — were among 68 applicants for the post. The panel led by the Cabinet Secretary did not consider the names of Mr Julka and Mr Sinha to be put in the list of five shortlisted candidates, sources say.
It shortlisted five retired IAS officers to be placed before the panel led by the PM. None of these ex-babus applied for the position but their names were considered by the search committee all the same.
The panel led by the Prime Minister, however, considered all the applicants along with names shortlisted by the search committee for the position and picked Mr Bhargava for the post.
The call of politics
Shah Faesal, who recently created ripples by resigning from the IAS to protest the “unabated killings” in Jammu & Kashmir, has indicated that he will join politics. Mr Faesal had emerged as a youth icon in the state after he topped the UPSC exam in 2010. But some observers say that there were indications earlier that Mr Faesal was planning to quit the civil service.
Interestingly, Mr Faesal may face stiff competition in the state’s politics. Clearly, he’s not the only one to choose politics over babugiri. Last month, former SSP Srinagar Riyaz Bedar joined the National Conference and is likely to contest elections from Pattan. Then, close on the heels of Mr Faesal’s resignation, Syed Towqeer, principal and sessions judge, Anantnag has reportedly sought voluntary retirement. The buzz is that he may probably contest the Assembly elections from south Kashmir’s Kokernag Assembly seat and will be joining the National Conference in the coming days.
Another senior judge who hails from north Kashmir and is currently living in Srinagar is also planning to enter politics. There have also been speculations of another bureaucrat, Asghar Ali, seeking retirement to join politics.
A delayed appointment
The post of chairman, Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), a jointly owned public sector utility, has been vacant for more than a year. It fell vacant following the resignation of Andrew W.K. Langstieh in November 2017, eleven months ahead of his completion of tenure in September 2019. Reportedly, he had resigned after he faced the wrath of a senior Central authority at a meeting.
His resignation had however, surprised sector experts because, under Andrew’s leadership, the DVC’s performance had improved significantly. His efforts had started yielding results in capacity utilisation, recovery of dues from Jharkhand and better debt management in DVC.
Now, according to sources, interviews for the post are likely to held next week. The contest for the top job is said to be between R.P. Tripathy (member, technical) and S. Halder (member, finance). Currently, NTPC CMD Gurdeep Singh holds the additional charge of chairman, DVC.
