The Central Information Commission (CIC), New Delhi will now decide on May 21 if the RTI replies submitted by the National Institute of Design (NID), pertaining to appointment procedure for the post of director, are satisfactory or not.

The RTI applications filed by Pravin Mishra, an alumni of the institute, had sought details about the appointment procedure for Pradyuman Vyas, who is the present director. However, unsatisfied with the replies, Mishra appealed to the CIC.

The CIC has issued the notice of hearing following an appeal/complaint against the Chief Public Information Officer (CPIO)/ Appellate Authority of NID, in view of their responses to an RTI requesting the details of the selection procedure adopted for appointing Vyas as NID’s new director in April 2009.

Vyas had taken over from Akhil Saccena, who has been officiating as the director after Darlie O Koshy left the institute in October 2008 to take charge of the Apparel Export Promotion Council in Gurgaon.

Mihir Bholey, NID’s CPIO, said: “NID’s representative will appear before the CIC on the due date, with the institute’s point of view.”

Mishra added: “The CIC will examine the arguments of both the parties and then decide the future action. I am confident that the appeal will be admitted and the entire selection criteria will come out in the open.”

Meanwhile, Prof M P Ranjan, Head, Centre for Bamboo Initiatives, NID, has written a mail to NID’s Governing Council pointing towards various discrepancies in the selection procedure of the director. “Our contention is that the way the selection procedure was conducted was not totally transparent, which should not be the case for such a reputed institute,” he said.