Babus fine-tune art of being selector and candidate

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Contents Page no.

Girish Mittal’s RTI application & DoPT’s response — 3, 42 - 45

CIC A N Tiwari’s self-selection methods — 4 - 22

CIC Satyananda Mishra’s self-selection methods — 23 - 38

Constitutional safeguards against self-selection — 39-40



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In response to his RTI application dated 25 May 2009,

RTI applicant Girish Mittal recieved, in three installments,

roughly 350 pages from DoPT’s files. Many of thesepapers were disclosed following the First Appeal order

on 19 November 2009. This was information that DoPT

had earlier denied having in its possession; Chief CIC

Wajahat Habibullah had upheld the denial in December

2008. (In earlier years, he had loosely cited the Official

Secrets Act for denying this information.)

However, not all papers have been given to Girish. Thereare some crucial missing links, such as letters from PMO

initiating the search for suitable candidates in the first

round of selections, as also agenda papers and minutes

of meetings where the first batch of Information

Commissioners were selected.

For procuring these missing papers, Girish has already

filed second appeal.

From page 4 to page 21 of this document, we have

detailed, in a chronological and logical order, the

documents of the self-selection process of former DoPT

Secretary A N Tiwari. From page 22 to 36, we have shown

the documents pertaining to the self-selection of former

DoPT Secretary Satyananda Mishra .

Girish Mittal’s Right to Information Application



4

Gazette notification 11 October ’05



5

Gazette notification



6

A N TiwariResume’submitted on

20 July 2005



7

A N Tiwari resume



8

Applications recieved

by A N Tiwari

Besides the applications of Wajahat Habibullah and others who went on to

become CIC and ICs, several other applications and biodatas were recieved

by A N Tiwari, DoPT Secretary in July and August 2005. Have a look...

26 July, ’05Lakshmi Chand



9


by A N Tiwari

28 July, ’05

G C Srivastava



10


by A N Tiwari

29July, ’05

K Jayakumar




by A N Tiwari

12 August, ’05

R Ganesan & G Mohanakumar



12


by A N Tiwari

26 August, ’05

G Mohanakumar



The Information Commissioner’s post

waited patiently for A N Tiwari

Judging at a glance the various biodatas recieved by him, it

appears that these candidates were at least as deserving as

Mr A N Tiwari, if not more. One of them would probably have

been Information Commissioner today if Mr Tiwari had not

reserved a seat for himself...

Please note: RESERVED.

Because, unlike other Commissioners appointed in that batch,

Mr Tiwari did not even write a reply to the offer letter.

Nor did he promptly give up his job and join the Central

Informaton Commission in October like the others.

Mr Tiwari took his time, and joined two-and-a-half months

after the letter of offer, without even replying to it. He

exhausted his full tenure as an IAS officer to the last day. He

retired upon superannuation, before occupying the seat of

Information Commissioner.

Wah! Dadagiri issey kehte hain!

In the next few pages, we are comparing Mr Tiwari’s

responses with those of other Information Commissioners in

the same batch -- Padma Balasubramanian and M M Ansari,

for example.



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Example 1:

Padma Balasubramian

10 October, ’05



Example 1:

Padma Balasubramian

12 October, ’05



16

Example 1:

Padma Balasubramian

21 October, ’05



Example 2:

M M Ansari

10 October, ’05



18

Example 2:

M M Ansari

21 October, ’05



Example 2:

M M Ansari

31 October, ’05



20

Compare the earlier responses with

A N Tiwari’s ...

10 October, ’05



2

Example 1:

A N Tiwari

No letter of acceptance of offer.



22

Example 1:

A N Tiwari

26 December, ’05(i.e. Two-and-half months after offer letter)

Please ask: Why did the post of Information Commissioner have

to wait 77 days for him? Was Mr Tiwari really so important?



2

Enough said about Mr Tiwari. Now let us turn our

attention to Satyananda Mishra, DoPT Secretary.

In June ’08, PMO asked whether there was a need to

expand the Commission. To this, Mr Mishra wrote a

self-serving note about the urgent need to appoint

six more Commissioners.

In July ’08, PMO specifically requested him to

propose a panel of names for appointment of four

more Information Commissioners.

So what did Mr Mishra do?

Despite having a wealth of suitable candidates to

choose from, he proposed only five names...

including his own name. Thus, he reduced his

chances of being rejected to 20% at the outer most!

Isn’t he a clever man?

In August ’08, PM’s selecting committee rewarded

his cleverness by making him an Information

Commissioner.



24

Satyananda Mishra’s advice to PMO

to appoint more ICs

23 June, ’08



2

PMO’s instructions to

Satyananda Mishra

28 July, ’08



26

Satyananda Mishra

schedules Selection

Committee meeting for

21 August, ’08



28

Satyananda Mishra’s

Bio-Data



2

Satyananda Mishra’s

Bio-Data



30

The meeting is postponed twice

to 26 and 27 August



3

... and Shailesh Gandhi

makes a surprise entry.



32

Shailesh Gandhi’s name

is added to the short- list.



3

The selection is finally made...

Out of six, four are selected.



34

Satyananda Mishra gets offer letter,

addressed to him from his own DoPT colleague.



3

To this, he replies as follows...



36

And so they all live happily

ever after...

But wait a minute! What about

those others who had applied

to Satyanand Mishra in his

capacity as DoPT Secretary?



3

For example, what about Lt. Gen Arvind

Mahajan who had sent his application

to Mr Mishra on 8th Jan ‘08?



38

What about all those otherswho kept sending their

applications, but were

clueless about how, when

and where to send them,

because they were not theDoPT Secretary,

or in his inner circle?

Tough luck! Better luck next

time, old chaps. (But there

will be no “next time”,because most candidates

are well past 60 years

already.)



3

Here is what Article 319 says for preventing self-selection in such instances:

319. On ceasing to hold office —

(a) the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission shall be ineligible for further

employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of aState;

(b) the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment

as the Chairman or any other member of the Union Public Service Commission or

as the Chairman of any other State Public Service Commission, but not for any

other employment either under the Government of India or under the Government

of a State;

(c) a member other than the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission shall be

eligible for appointment as the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission,

or as the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission, but not for any otheremployment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a

State;

(d ) a member other than the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission shall be

eligible for appointment as the Chairman or any other member of the Union Public

Service Commission or as the Chairman of that or any other State Public Service

Commission, but not for any other employment either under the Government of

India or under the Government of a State.

Why does Article 319 say all this? Because Public Service Commissions arebodies that help in selections — similar to DoPT’s role in selecting CIC/ICs.

Article 320 describes the role of Public Service Commissions:

320.

(1) It shall be the duty of the Union and the State Public Service Commissions to

conduct examinations for appointments to the services of the Union and the

services of the State respectively.

(2) It shall also be the duty of the Union Public Service Commission, if requested by

any two or more States so to do, to assist those States in framing and operating

schemes of joint recruitment for any services for which candidates possessing

special qualifications are required.

So isn’t it self-evident that, following the same constitutional principle, DoPT

Secretaries must not be eligible for appointment to the post of CIC/IC?

Is the Constitution silent on such issues? Emphatically, NO!



And here is what Article 16 says about right to equality

of opportunity for all citizens in matters of State

employment:

“16.

(1) There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters

relating to employment or appointment to any office under the

State.

(2) No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex,

descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for,

or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office

under the State.”

Fellow citizens, do you and I have as much

opportunity to become Information

Commissioners as Messrs A N Tiwari &

Satyananda Mishra? You decide.

Babus fine-tune art of being selector and candidate

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