No search committee formed to select Information Commissioners in MP: Govt

There was no search committee formed to shortlist candidates to select Information Commissioners, the Madhya Pradesh government has said in a reply to an RTI query.

The assertion, RTI activists say, is contrary to a recent judgement of Supreme Court that mandated formation of a search committee by state governments for shortlisting aspirants for the post of Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners in State Information Commissions.

The apex court had further said it would be appropriate for the search committee to make the criteria for shortlisting the candidates pubic so that it is ensured that shortlisting is done on the basis of objective and rational criteria.

Anti-corruption activist Ajay Dubey had filed an RTI application with the state government and sought details of search committee formed to select Information Commissioners in the state Information Commission.

The committee has not been formed by the department, the general administration department of the state government said.

Registrar General of MP High Court Arvind Kumar Shukla was recently appointed as the chief Information Commissioner of Madhya Pradesh.

Journalist Rahul Singh and retired bureaucrat G Krishnamurthy were selected as the Information Commissioners.

As many as 105 people, including serving and retired judges, bureaucrats, journalists, social activists and others, had applied for these posts.

After the appointments were made in the State Information Commission in February, social activists have claimed that due process was not followed to ensure transparency in the selection process.

Meanwhile, Dubey's wife and rights activist Rupali, who was also an applicant for the post of Information Commissioner, approached the MP High Court challenging the appointments in the Commission.

Hearing her case, the High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the state government seeking the response within three weeks.