From CIC to CVC, coveted posts still remain vacant

Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Rajiv Mathur retired on August 22, 2014. Since then, the chair lies empty, and technically, all orders passed by the CIC’s office in the interim are null and void. Turns out, the file to find a replacement had started its journey as soon as Modi govt took over. It got entangled in red tape over the constitution of selection panel that needs to have the PM, a cabinet minister and the Leader of Opposition (LoP). Once that was solved, the PMO chose to sit on the file, for nearly 3 months.

JUNE 12: DoPT writes to LS Secretariat and asks if there is an LoP. Reply comes on July 19 saying sorry, no LoP, but Congress is the single largest in LS.

JULY 8: DoPT writes to Law Min, asking if Congress leader can be considered LoP. On July 10, it writes to PMO seeking nomination of a Cabinet minister for selection panel, and a date for the said panel’s meeting.

JULY 21: PMO replies, recommending Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, but says meeting can be held only after Law Min clarifies on LoP status. Meanwhile, four days earlier, Law Min had told DoPT that, yes, for the CIC purpose, Cong leader was as good as LoP.

JULY 24: DoPT resubmits the file to PMO, attaching Law Min opinion. Now the file also says, the “practice” is to select CIC from existing information commissioners (ICs). PMO takes 3 months to reply. On October 17, it quashes the “practice” and asks for advertising for the post. On October 24, applications are invited for new CIC, with a month’s deadline.