Activists upset with new Info Commissioner

By Y. Maheswara Reddy | NT

Bengaluru: The State Information Commission has a penchant to be in the news for all the wrong reasons. It has now selected a person who is facing disproportionate assets (DA) case in a Lokayukta Court at Mysore.

Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot issued a notification on April 18 appointing H.C. Sathyan as State Information Commissioner.

According to documents available with the News Trail, Karnataka High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Sathyan seeking quashing the order passed by the court of the III Additional Sessions and Special Judge, Mysuru. The order was issued by the III Additional Sessions Judge to prosecute Sathyan based on a chargesheet submitted by Karnataka Lokayukta Police, Mysuru on September 22, 2012.

Meanwhile, social activists and RTI activists are up in arms against the Government for appointing Sathyan as State Information Commissioner against whom a DA case is pending with Karnataka Lokayukta Mysuru.

“Sathyan who was originally appointed as an Inspector of the Transport Department and retired as an Assistant Regional Transport Officer. As per the Section 15(5) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, the state chief commissioner or the state information commissioners shall be the 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,” said Dr Deepak Mahadev, an activist from J.P. Nagar in a letter to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot.

A group of RTI activists on Thursday submitted a memorandum to In-charge Chief Information Commissioner S.L. Patil opposed the appointment of Sathyan as State Information Commissioner.

“We demand the In-charge Chief Information Commissioner not to allocate work to Sathyan. We have also appealed to the Governor to reconsider the appointment of Sathyan as State Information Commissioner,” said Veeresh B.H., a RTI activist.

Stating that the Governor should have consulted all the authorities before appointing Sathyan as the State Information Commissioner, Sai Datta, a social activist has opined that it has become a habit for the state government to weaken all important institutions by selecting wrong persons.

Recently, the State Information Commission was in the news for deploying police but also making it difficult for visitors and RTI applicants.