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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: [email protected]

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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 Page no.

Girish Mittals RTI application & DoPTs response 3, 42 - 45

CIC A N Tiwaris self-selection methods 4 - 22

CIC Satyananda Mishras self-selection methods 23 - 38

Constitutional safeguards against self-selection 39-40

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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 thesepapers 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. Thereare 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 .

Girish Mittals Right to Information Application

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4

Gazette notification 11 October 05

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Gazette notification

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A N TiwariResumesubmitted on

20 July 2005

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A N Tiwari resume

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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, 05Lakshmi Chand

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by A N Tiwari

28 July, 05

G C Srivastava

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by A N Tiwari

29July, 05

K Jayakumar

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by A N Tiwari

12 August, 05

R Ganesan & G Mohanakumar

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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)

Please ask: Why did the post of Information Commissioner have

to wait 77 days for him? Was Mr Tiwari really so important?

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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 otherswho kept sending their

applications, but were

clueless about how, when

and where to send them,

because they were not theDoPT 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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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 aState;

(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 otheremployment 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 arebodies 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?

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

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