HC restrains info commissioners from joining duty

The Madras high court on Thursday restrained the three recently appointed commissioners of the Tamil Nadu Information Commission from assuming office till the disposal of a public interest litigation challenging their appointment. The PIL, filed by city-based advocate S Vijayalakshmi, has sought to quash the appointments on the ground that "there was no transparency in the appointment process."

The first bench headed by Chief Justice M Y Eqbal, which passed the interim order following an undertaking by the state government, ordered notices to AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa as she is one of the members of the selection committee and the three information commissioners, asking them to file a reply by March 16.

In her petition, Vijayalakshmi said the three information commissioners -- P A Ramaiah, C Manoharan and A Arumuga Nainar -- were appointed on March 1, hours before the Election Commission of India announced the schedule for Tamil Nadu assembly elections. The three were handpicked for the appointment and the process was rushed through to beat the model code of conduct that came into force in the evening, she said.

Though the selection committee comprised chief minister M Karunanidhi, finance minister K Anbazhagan and J Jayalalithaa, the opposition leader had been "deliberately sidelined" by the state government in the selection process, the petition contended. The decision was taken in the absence of Jayalalithaa.

When the case came up for hearing, the government submitted that the decision on the appointments was forwarded to the ECI for ascertaining whether the newly appointed commissioners could assume office or not. The government said it was awaiting ECI's decision in this regard.

However, the bench made it clear that the three commissioners would not assume office till the disposal of the PIL, irrespective of the ECI's decision.