Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu is likely to seek voluntary retirement to don the role of State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC), a position that has been vacant for more than a month, highly placed sources told ETV Bharat on Wednesday.
Without an SCIC and four Information Commissioners, the functioning of the Tamil Nadu Information Commission (TNIC) remains crippled for more than a month. As of now, there are only two ICs and already the TNIC ranks at the bottom in its performance. The delay in clearing the appointments is acting as a big hurdle in securing information, bemoan RTI activists.
When former SCIC, R Rajagopal had demitted office in November last, the four other ICs too followed suit as their term was to come to an end in the first week of December. However, in early October last the DMK government constituted a three-member search committee, headed by Justice GM Akbar Ali, to shortlist a panel of names for the vacant positions. The other two members of the committee are a serving IAS officer and a retired IAS officer. Though the deadline for aspirants to submit applications was initially fixed as November 16, 2022, it had been extended twice.
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According to the notification, the interested candidates should be “Persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge in Law/ Science and Technology/ Social Service/ Management/ Journalism/ Mass media or Administration and Governance.” However, if the past is any indication, the post of SCIC has been a second innings for IAS and IPS officers after retirement. Of the five previous SCICs, four were former IAS officers viz., S Ramakrishnan, K Sripathy, who was Chief Secretary and Sheela Priya, who was secretary to late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and R Rajagopal. The other one was former DGP K Ramanujam, who was also adviser to Jayalalithaa after retirement.
According to highly placed sources, Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu is likely to opt for voluntary retirement and take over as SCIC and this is delaying the process of filling up the vacant posts. “The present government is unlikely to revive the practice of Jayalalithaa in having retired Chief Secretary or trusted IAS officers as advisers to the Chief Minister post-retirement. But, might continue to reward them with postings in the Information Commission as was the case in the past,” said a senior IAS officer on condition of anonymity. “And the present Chief Secretary V Iraianbu is most likely to get it,” he added.
“Already the performance of the TNIC is considered very poor among the State Information Commissions in the country. Keeping the vacancies of SCIC and ICs for long is not in the interest of the citizens. Even ordinary citizens requiring information on Old Age Pension (cash assistance of Rs 1000 by the government) are made to wait for months. The filing of the second appeal is getting delayed by more than a year as of now. RTI is a weapon to curb corruption besides ensuring transparency and the Information Commission plays a crucial role in exposing irregularities in various departments of the government. Delay in bringing out facts will only help in keeping them under the wrap,” argues K Ramakrishnan of 'Arappor Iyakkam', an anti-corruption NGO.
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Echoing the same, former IAS officer MG Devasagayam faults the practice of rewarding IAS officers with lucrative sinecure. “Some officers have brought expertise but such people are very few. Most who land in a sinecure have to compromise and dance to the tunes of the political masters,” he says, blaming the political class for turning statutory offices into doles. The expectation of RTI activists is that the posts are filled up with competent people with integrity without any further delay.
