DMK government rapped for appointment

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has rapped the previous DMK government for not maintaining transparency while appointing three State Information Commissioners (SICs) to the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission in T Nagar.The appointments were wholly arbitrary, capricious and against the methodology to be followed in the matter of such appointments, the First Bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam said on Friday.The Bench was allowing a public interest writ petition from a city-based advocate S Vijayalakshmi seeking to quash a Government Order (GO) dated March 1 this year appointing P A Ramaiah, C Manoharan and A Arumuga Nainar as SICs.While passing interim orders on March 10 last, the Bench had restrained the trio from assuming office till the disposal of the writ petition and as per the undertaking given by A-G Navaneethkrishnan.The Bench noted that the selection committee, chaired by the then Chief Minister and the then finance minister and nominated by the CM, had ignored the objections raised by then Leader of Opposition (J Jayalalithaa) against the selection process and the candidates. She had also pointed out that no appointments could be made since the notification for the State Assembly poll was expected in the first week of March. She did not participate in the panel’s meeting held on March 1 last. The Bench noted that the names of Manoharan and Nainar were included in the last minute and the same was not communicated to the then leader of opposition. All this showed that there was total lack of transparency in the appointments, the Bench said.“We have no hesitation in holding that the manner in which the date for convening the meeting of the selection committee was fixed and the decision of the committee recommending the three names for appointment is wholly arbitrary and against the methodology to be followed in the matter of such appointments,” the Bench said.