Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, May 23: Denying reports in a section of media that there were differences among members of the Selection Committee which led to postponement of the meeting held today to finalize appointments for the posts of Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), Information Commissioner (IC), Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and Vigilance Commissioner (VC), Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances,Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that he was himself present at the meeting which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by leader of Congress Party in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and therefore, he can personally testify that the meeting was held in an atmosphere of absolute cordiality and healthy mutual exchange of opinions.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the meeting lasted for about two hours and the participants amicably exchanged inputs over various probable names that came up for appointment to the posts of CIC, IC, CVC and VC. However, he said, one must realize that such an exercise is very exhaustive, particularly when the number of applicants runs in hundreds and is somewhere over 500. Also, at the same time, he said, there is always a room or scope for obtaining further details and information before arriving at final conclusion.
Later, responding to queries from media persons on the sidelines of a meeting with members of “BJP for Northeast”, a unit of the Party, whose co-convener Linda Newmai presented him a detailed proposal for celebration of the birth centenary of famous Manipur born freedom fighter Rani Gaidinliu, Dr Jitendra Singh said, he is in touch with Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and very soon, the next date of the meeting will be finalized depending upon the availability and mutual convenience of Prime Minister and other members of the selection committee and after that, the names of the new CIC, CVC, IC and VC will be formally announced.
When asked about various probable names being put up by certain TV channels, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the purpose of having a Selection Committee is that whatever names are finalized, should have the consensus and endorsement of both the Government as well as the opposition and, therefore, there cannot be any misgivings about the final decision taken.
When reminded of the Congress party’s repeated accusation that the process of appointment of CIC and CVC is being deliberately delayed because the present government did not favour transparency or accountability, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, on the contrary, the reverse is true. The truth, he said, is that whatever delay, if at all has happened, it was not on account of any reasons on the part of this government or the Department of Personnel & Training (DoP&T). For example, he said, there was a court intervention and it became mandatory for us to keep the courts informed about every development in the process of selection of CVC and soon after the court appearance on May 12, 2015 when we received the signal to go ahead, the Department promptly went ahead to convene a meeting of the Selection Committee.
Similarly, as far as the appointment of CIC is concerned, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, earlier the senior most Information Commissioner would automatically become CIC, but we have tried to bring in further transparency by following a process of advertisement for selection of even the CIC, so that senior is not the sole criteria.
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