Revealed: Intriguing details of appointments to Central Information Commission by UPA

Candidates had credentials like taking on Narendra Modi’, who was then Gujarat Chief Minister.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

In May 2008, after it emerged that multiple vacancies of Information Commissioners were going to arise in the Central Information Commission, interested applicants started sending their applications to the Department of Personnel and Training.

In many cases, however, the names were recommended by sitting Union Ministers and in a few cases, those who had neither applied nor were recommended by any minister, made to the shortlisted list of candidates and went on to be appointed to the prestigious post.

Documents and file noting accessed by The Sunday Guardian related to the entire exercise gives a glimpse into how these high-level appointments were managed and how in a few cases, those were shortlisted whose credentials included "taking on Narendra Modi" who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at that time.

The process for filing these posts moved swiftly after a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament from Mizoram, Lalhming Liana in May 2008 wrote to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh highlighting the pending cases in Central Information Commission, while recommending the name of a medical doctor for the said post.

Among those who applied and were even recommended for the post of Information Commissioner included the 1971 batch Gujarat cadre IPS officer R.B. Sreekumar.

In his application, Sreekumar prominently mentioned that he was "harassed" by the Narendra Modi government who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time for "submitting affidavits to the Nanavati-Shah commission that was inquiring into the Gujarat riots."