Just for the Record...

Girish Mittals RTI Application:

25th May, 2009 To, Central Public Information Officer, Prime Ministers Office, South Block, New Delhi 110 011

Dear Sir, Sub: Selection process for Central Information Commissioners. Kindly find attached PO # 74R 700211 towards fees for application under RTI Act, 2005. Kindly provide the following information from June 2005 till current date: Please provide authenticated / attested true copies of below-mentioned items: a) Minutes of meetings held for selection of each of Central Information Commissioners (including Chief Information Commissioner). Include file notings if any. b) List of members of the Committee (with names and designations) which selected every Information Commissioner as per Sec. 15 (3) of RTI Act 2005. c) All correspondence with reference to application, proposing, nominating, soliciting application, soliciting opinions of others on appointment of each Information Commissioner etc. In short, provide copies of ALL correspondence in this regard. d) Names and designations of other candidates who applied for the post. e) The guidelines / circulars / instructions / rules etc. by which the selection process was carried out. f) If advertisements, notices, circulars or any other form of communication were issued inviting nominations/ applications for the post of Information Commissioner / Chief Information Commissioner, please give copies. Also give copies of each and every response received to above-mentioned call for nominations/applications. g) Medical reports, due diligence reports and other expert opinion sought or furnished to establish that each candidate was deemed fit to be appointed to this Office, being sound in mind and body as required under Sec. 17(3)(d) of RTI Act 2005. h) Written opinions etc given in favour of or against the present Information Commissioners. This includes file notings or any other form of records. (i) Copies of Vigilance clearance obtained for each Information Commissioner. Kindly provide the above information ASAP. Best regards.

Girish Mittal 1305 Dhruv, Ashok Van, Borivali East, Mumbai 400 066 Tel. 09323462428 Email: mittalgirish@gmail.com

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Responses to Girish Mittals RTI Application:

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Girish Mittals First Appeal Order 1

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Girish Mittals First Appeal Order

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Contents
Girish Mittals RTI application & DoPTs response CIC A N Tiwaris self-selection methods CIC Satyananda Mishras self-selection methods Constitutional safeguards against self-selection

Page no.
3, 42 - 45 4 - 22 23 - 38 39-40

Girish Mittals Right to Information Application

In response to his RTI application dated 25 May 2009, RTI applicant Girish Mittal recieved, in three installments, roughly 350 pages from DoPTs files. Many of these papers were disclosed following the First Appeal order on 19 November 2009. This was information that DoPT had earlier denied having in its possession; Chief CIC Wajahat Habibullah had upheld the denial in December 2008. (In earlier years, he had loosely cited the Official Secrets Act for denying this information.) However, not all papers have been given to Girish. There are some crucial missing links, such as letters from PMO initiating the search for suitable candidates in the first round of selections, as also agenda papers and minutes of meetings where the first batch of Information Commissioners were selected. For procuring these missing papers, Girish has already filed second appeal. From page 4 to page 21 of this document, we have detailed, in a chronological and logical order, the documents of the self-selection process of former DoPT Secretary A N Tiwari. From page 22 to 36, we have shown the documents pertaining to the self-selection of former DoPT Secretary Satyananda Mishra .

Gazette notification 11 October 05

Gazette notification

A N Tiwari
Resume
submitted on

20 July 2005

A N Tiwari resume

Applications recieved by A N Tiwari

Besides the applications of Wajahat Habibullah and others who went on to become CIC and ICs, several other applications and biodatas were recieved by A N Tiwari, DoPT Secretary in July and August 2005. Have a look... 26 July, 05 Lakshmi Chand

Applications recieved by A N Tiwari

28 July, 05 G C Srivastava

Applications recieved by A N Tiwari

29July, 05 K Jayakumar

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Applications recieved by A N Tiwari

12 August, 05 R Ganesan & G Mohanakumar

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Applications recieved by A N Tiwari

26 August, 05 G Mohanakumar

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The Information Commissioners post waited patiently for A N Tiwari

Judging at a glance the various biodatas recieved by him, it appears that these candidates were at least as deserving as Mr A N Tiwari, if not more. One of them would probably have been Information Commissioner today if Mr Tiwari had not reserved a seat for himself... Please note: RESERVED. Because, unlike other Commissioners appointed in that batch, Mr Tiwari did not even write a reply to the offer letter. Nor did he promptly give up his job and join the Central Informaton Commission in October like the others. Mr Tiwari took his time, and joined two-and-a-half months after the letter of offer, without even replying to it. He exhausted his full tenure as an IAS officer to the last day. He retired upon superannuation, before occupying the seat of Information Commissioner. Wah! Dadagiri issey kehte hain! In the next few pages, we are comparing Mr Tiwaris responses with those of other Information Commissioners in the same batch -- Padma Balasubramanian and M M Ansari, for example.
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Example 1: Padma Balasubramian

10 October, 05

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Example 1: Padma Balasubramian

12 October, 05

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Example 1: Padma Balasubramian

21 October, 05

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Example 2: M M Ansari
10 October, 05

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Example 2: M M Ansari
21 October, 05

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Example 2: M M Ansari
31 October, 05

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Compare the earlier responses with A N Tiwaris ...

10 October, 05

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Example 1: A N Tiwari

No letter of acceptance of offer.

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Example 1: A N Tiwari

26 December, 05
(i.e. Two-and-half months after offer letter)

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Please ask: Why did the post of Information Commissioner have to wait 77 days for him? Was Mr Tiwari really so important?

Enough said about Mr Tiwari. Now let us turn our attention to Satyananda Mishra, DoPT Secretary. In June 08, PMO asked whether there was a need to expand the Commission. To this, Mr Mishra wrote a self-serving note about the urgent need to appoint six more Commissioners. In July 08, PMO specifically requested him to propose a panel of names for appointment of four more Information Commissioners. So what did Mr Mishra do? Despite having a wealth of suitable candidates to choose from, he proposed only five names... including his own name. Thus, he reduced his chances of being rejected to 20% at the outer most! Isnt he a clever man? In August 08, PMs selecting committee rewarded his cleverness by making him an Information Commissioner.
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Satyananda Mishras advice to PMO to appoint more ICs

23 June, 08

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PMOs instructions to Satyananda Mishra

28 July, 08

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Satyananda

Mishra

schedules Selection Committee meeting for

21 August, 08

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... and includes his own name in the list of candidates.

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Satyananda Mishras

Bio-Data

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Satyananda Mishras

Bio-Data

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The meeting is postponed twice to 26 and 27 August

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... and Shailesh Gandhi makes a surprise entry.

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Shailesh Gandhis name is added to the short- list.

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The selection is finally made... Out of six, four are selected.

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Satyananda Mishra gets offer letter, addressed to him from his own DoPT colleague.

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To this, he replies as follows...

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And so they all live happily ever after... But wait a minute! What about those others who had applied to Satyanand Mishra in his capacity as DoPT Secretary?

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For example, what about Lt. Gen Arvind Mahajan who had sent his application to Mr Mishra on 8th Jan 08?

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What about all those others who kept sending their applications, but were clueless about how, when and where to send them, because they were not the DoPT Secretary, or in his inner circle? Tough luck! Better luck next time, old chaps. (But there will be no next time, because most candidates are well past 60 years already.)

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Is the Constitution silent on such issues? Emphatically, NO!

Here is what Article 319 says for preventing self-selection in such instances:
319. On ceasing to hold office (a) the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission shall be ineligible for further employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State; (b) the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the Chairman or any other member of the Union Public Service Commission or as the Chairman of any other State Public Service Commission, but not for any other employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State; (c) a member other than the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission, or as the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission, but not for any other employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State; (d) a member other than the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the Chairman or any other member of the Union Public Service Commission or as the Chairman of that or any other State Public Service Commission, but not for any other employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State.

Why does Article 319 say all this? Because Public Service Commissions are bodies that help in selections similar to DoPTs role in selecting CIC/ICs. Article 320 describes the role of Public Service Commissions:
320. (1) It shall be the duty of the Union and the State Public Service Commissions to conduct examinations for appointments to the services of the Union and the services of the State respectively. (2) It shall also be the duty of the Union Public Service Commission, if requested by any two or more States so to do, to assist those States in framing and operating schemes of joint recruitment for any services for which candidates possessing special qualifications are required.

So isnt it self-evident that, following the same constitutional principle, DoPT Secretaries must not be eligible for appointment to the post of CIC/IC?
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And here is what Article 16 says about right to equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters of State employment:
16. (1) There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State. (2) No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office under the State.

Fellow citizens, do you and I have as much opportunity to become Information Commissioners as Messrs A N Tiwari & Satyananda Mishra? You decide.
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