MP Govt forms committee to select Information Commissioners

Madhya Pradesh government has formed a three-member committee to fill vacant posts of Information Commissioners in the State Information Commission which are lying vacant for the last nine months.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly Ajay Singh and Minister for Law and Legislative Affairs Narottam Mishra will be the members of the select committee, an official order by the government said.
The Committee will have its first meeting on October 11.
As many as 234 candidates, including retired bureaucrats, journalists, activists and even industrialists, have applied for the posts of Information Commissioners.
The post of Chief Information Commissioner and 10 posts of Information Commissioners are lying vacant since December last year.

The move came after Madhya Pradesh High Court, while hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by RTI activist Ajay Dubey, in January directed the state government to fill up vacant posts of commissioners in the state's transparency watchdog.

Dubey had filed the PIL seeking appointments of Information Commissioners through public advertisements and through an open and transparent process.
According to officials, close to 12,000 appeals and complaints under Right to Information Act are pending with the Madhya Pradesh Information Commission.
"There is a need to organise Lok Adalats to dispose cases pending in State Information Commission. The government should appoint information commissioners as early as possible and start hearing the matter," Dubey said.

He said that selection committee should ensure representation of tribals and women in the commission to ensure transparency and faith from all sections of society.