The Samachara Hakku Prachara Ikya Vedika has opposed the State government’s decision to name Imtiyaz Ahmed, Lam Tantiya Kumari, Varre Venkateswarlu, and Muttamsetti Vijayanirmala as information commissioners.
Vedika state secretary Kota Prasada Siva Rao, in a letter addressed to the Governor on Sunday, said that all the four persons have political affiliation. Imtiyaz Ahmed contested against Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy in last elections on the Telugu Desam ticket. Later, he joined the Congress. Ms. Kumari is daughter of late former deputy chief minister Koneru Ranga Rao. She also served as ZPTC member in the Krishna district as Congress candidate. Likewise, Mr. Venkateswarlu and Ms. Vijayanirmala contested on Praja Rajyam ticket in the last elections.
As per the Section 15(6) of Right to Information Act, the State Chief Information Commissioner or a State Information Commissioner should not be a Member of Parliament or Member of the Legislature of any State or Union territory, as the case may be, or hold any other office of profit or connected with any political party or carrying on any business or pursuing any profession. Hence, the Governor was requested to reject the proposal to save the democracy.
