Jantar mantar magic

The Central Information Commission has been trying hard to enforce the implementation of a provision in the RTI Act,which calls upon all ministries and public departments to make a large set of information available on their websites and regularly update it. For the simple reason,it claims,that it will drastically reduce the number of applications filed for the purpose. But probably the transparency panel needs to set its own house in order first. Its own website is not being updated regularly,even information as basic as monthly disposal of cases by CIC are not up-to-date. After April this year,the Commission seems to have not cared to update the figures.

Tight Race

The post of the chairman of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is likely to witness an interesting competition between some high-profile contenders. Among the contenders,sources say,are current Health Secretary K Chandramouli,set to retire next month,and Director General of Health Services R K Srivastava. Grapevine has it that even former Health Secretary K Sujatha Rao,who has recently been seen in the corridors of the ministry,might be in the fray.

Caught Unawares

Officials at the Indian embassy in Kathmandu were caught completely unawares by the arrest of an alleged key suspect in the latest bomb attacks in Mumbai earlier this month. Nepal police claimed to have made a breakthrough in the investigations with the arrest of this person after he was found to have called up one of the mobile numbers under the scanner of the Maharashtra ATS. However,police authorities in Mumbai were not sure of the role of this person so the officials in the Indian embassy in Kathmandu were asked to check. They were,however,said to be totally clueless and could relay back no more than what had appeared in the local media reports.

Hal Is Well

The much-berated Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL),which is severely short of manpower,had some good news to share on Wednesday. With at least three posts in its board of directors vacant,the company finally announced the appointment of V M Chamola as Director,Human Resource. Amongst his accomplishments,as mentioned in a detailed profile released by HAL,is an “impossible task” that he had accomplished — “arranging boarding and lodging for 130 employees of NJPC (Naptha Jhakri Power Corporation Limited) within a span of 24 hours”.