Shimla : A whistleblower on Thursday accused the P.K.Dhumal led BJP government in Himachal Pradesh of shamelessly degrading the institution of the state information commission .
“Only a few months ago the state government had said the state information commission is least burdened with RTI related matters . But how come the state government is now reportedly creating a new post of information commissioner ,” said RTI activist Dev Ashish Bhattacharya.
“Kali Das Batish’s name has been finalised to replace retiring SS Parmar . Search is already on to select a new person(a retiring officer) as information commissioner as the cabinet is on the verge of creating a new post,” Bhattacharya said .
“Why this sudden U turn , does it mean the position of information commissioner in the state has been reduced to a political one . Is it not a shameless degradation of this position ,” he alleged .
Bhattacharya has further questioned if a transparency watchdog should be appointed in this manner .
“Will it now be possible for a layman to believe that the quality of outflow of the information will be effected by the state information commission ,” he said .
He has also questioned the selection process to this top post saying candidates are not always selected on merit but other factors seem to play a far more important role .
“It looks like a fixed match as all seem to know well in advance who will be selected ,” he alleged .
Please tell our polciy makers why people retire after 60s. There may be exceptions but one man should hold one post in the time of cut throat compitetion era. Pls ask those who were holding duel charge to discharge their sole responsibilty with honestly rather than trying to behave like superhuman beings .