What ought to have been a rather mundane, routine appointment process — for the now vacant post of Chief Information Commissioner — has taken an interesting turn (not necessarily for the better) courtesy a motley “civil society” caucus. An eclectic group comprising of undoubtedly eminent citizens of India — corporate leader Narayana Murthy, actor Aamir Khan, activist Arvind Kejriwal, yoga guru Baba Ramdev among others — has written to the government strongly recommending the name of Kiran Bedi, the outspoken former cop, for the top job in the Central Information Commission. Some have also thrown an additional gauntlet to the government — if it doesn’t appoint Bedi, the prime minister must explain how, and why, its chosen candidate is better than Bedi for the job.

This intervention is peculiar, interfering and damaging for a number of reasons. Peculiar because one doesn’t quite know what made a group of such diverse individuals agree on a single, and judging by her past record quite controversial, name for such an important job. The point is well taken that the right to information has been incrementally gained by a clamour form ordinary citizens outside of government, and therefore we the people have a unique stake in tracking the CIC’s post. However, is recommending candidates the right way to go about this? The general criteria/qualifications for appointment to the CIC are enshrined in the Right to Information Act in any case. By recommending just one person, someone who often polarises even larger civil society’s opinion on a number of issues, this particular group of individuals has left itself open to well-justified criticism, of promoting vested interest, and a specific agenda, of their own making.

... contd.