The Kiran Kumar Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh was faced with acute embarrassment on Tuesday when Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan rejected the names of four out of the eight persons proposed for appointment as Information Commissioners under the Right to Information Act.
Profiles scrutinised
Invoking the provisions of the RTI Act, the Governor found the four nominees ineligible for holding the post of Information Commissioners as they have political affiliations and sent the file back to the government. Article 15 (6) of the Act clearly lays down that, among other things, the nominees should not be connected with any political party. But, a scrutiny of their profiles shows that all of them have close political affiliations with one party or the other.
Imtiaz Ahmed was a former Telugu Desam candidate for the Assembly elections in 2009, Tantiya Kumari, a Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) member, Vijaya Nirmala, formerly a Praja Rajyam candidate from the Nuzvid Assembly constituency in Krishna district and V. Venkateswarlu, a Congress leader from Nalgonda.
The eight names were forwarded to Mr. Narasimhan last month after a three-member committee comprising Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister C. Damodar Rajanarasimha and Leader of the Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu approved them ‘unanimously.' No sooner the names were announced than there was a public outcry against the move to appoint politicians to the prestigious posts.
A delegation of citizens led by the former Union Home Secretary K. Padmabhaiah made a representation to the Governor, urging him to reject the appointment of the four persons.
Realising that a controversy was brewing over the decision, to which he was a party, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu demanded constitution of a search committee to identify candidates.
Legally valid: CM
However, the Chief Minister was firm in his stand that these appointments were legally valid.
