This is a campaign to ensure that Central Information Commissioners are appointed using a transparent procedure.

Today, the biggest threat facing Right to Information comes, ironically, from the Information Commissioners. They form the backbone of the Act, as they are charged with ensuring that Right to Information is implemented well by the administration. Pliant, incapable or pro-administration Commissioners who are appointed through ad-hoc, arbitrary, biased and non-transparent processes do the greatest harm to RTI. See here (http://www.box.net/shared/vo0zp3rbrl) to understand how Central Information Commissioners (CICs) are currently being selected

Section 12(5) of RTI Act states: “The Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners shall be persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance.” The wording of this section makes it clear that far from being a determining criterion, knowledge and experience of administration and governance are only one of the many criteria for selection. It is evident that the post of CIC / Chief CIC intrinsically belongs to civil society, and not to the bureaucracy. Currently, however, the selection process is overwhelmingly in favour of bureaucrats, as Department of Personnel & Training (DOPT), Personnel Ministry, is in charge of recommending names to the selecting committee chaired by the Prime Minister. Our campaign aims to set right this flawed process.

(All the documents referred to in the following paragraphs can be downloaded from http://box.net/cic).

Why now?
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The present Chief CIC will retire on 30th September 2010. Other Commissioners appointed in 2005 will also retire in 2010, and hence there will be many vacancies opening up this year. Citizens must act now to ensure that the next round of appointments happen through a transparent procedure.

How will this campaign work?
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The strategy is to apply in large numbers for the post of CIC / Chief CIC. We anticipate three benefits:
>>Firstly, there will be pressure on the system to appoint some good candidates from civil society as CICs or Chief CIC.
>>Secondly, as there will be many candidates from civil society, the government may be compelled to introduce proper procedures to filter out and short-list candidates.
>>Finally, if the government ignores all our names and selects its own people without any transparent procedure, we can move the courts and argue that the appointments are void as we were eliminated without a proper procedure, eligibility criteria etc. There is a good chance of convincing the Court that this is violation of articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India (http://india.gov.in/govt/documents/english/coi_part_full.pdf).
Article 14 gives us the Right to Equality - "The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India."
Article 16 says that there shall be equality of opportunity in matters of public employment.

#Note: Your applying for the post does not mean that you have to be part of the legal exercise that might come later. So participating in this campaign does not commit you to anything.

HOW TO APPLY?
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1.Download covering letter template (http://www.box.net/shared/p4ebi6z2to).

2.Fill in the details (yellow highlights), modify it if you feel like it. See sample application letter(http://www.box.net/shared/604t3s4j4f) if needed for understanding how to fill in your details.

3.Make 5 copies of this letter and enclose your biodata with each copy. Preferably by Speed Post or Registered AD, send one set each to
a)DoPT Secretary
b)President of India
c)Prime minister of India
d)Central Information Commission.

The addresses are in the covering letter template.

4.Please preserve copies of delivery proof.

5.Finally, inform us that you have sent your application by registering at the bottom of this page.

We realize that completing these 5 steps will require some time and effort. If your age is below 61 years, we urge each one of you to invest that time in ensuring a brighter future for RTI.

What after applying?
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We will make a consolidated list of applications and send a letter to DoPT, requesting them to form a “search and selection committee”, which they should as per DoPT’s Guidelines (can be seen here http://www.box.net/shared/hd4s4zo62u).
If you register, your name will also be part of this list. The longer the list, the greater will be the pressure exerted on DoPT. Therefore, it is important that everybody who applies should register on this page. Your registering will also help us -
(i)To keep track of how many have applied, which will useful for media releases, follow up etc.
(ii)To file further RTIs if needed to know the status of our applications
(iii)To be in touch with you to take this campaign forward.

For more details:
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sahasipadyatri@gmail.com (Krishnaraj Rao), or call on 9821588114
madhav.vishnubhatta@gmail.com (Madhav Vishnubhatta), or call on 9840327303

All documents mentioned on this page can be downloaded from http://box.net/cic