The World Bank which opened itself up to public scrutiny from July 1, has a prominent Indian on the board which will be the arbiter of the information that the bank has to reveal.  A release from the World Bank on Friday says that Wajahat Habibullah, the Chief Information Commissioner, Central Information Commission of India, has been appointed by World Bank as one of the three members to the Appeals Board.

“The Appeals Board will play a critical role in the process that enables parties to file an appeal if their requests for information have been denied by the Bank,” the World Bank released said.

“When you are not getting what you need, then the appeals board comes into play. You always have right to appeal for more. They would be from outside the bank. They can’t be pressured by the bank as their reputation would be at stake,” Muhamad Al Arif, a spokesperson of the bank in India told Governance Now on June 29.

Habibullah will serve a two-year term on the board.

He was appointed as the first Chief Information Commissioner of India in October 2005, to implement the Right to Information Act (2005).

The Indian RTI played an important role in influencing the Bank's transparency policy.

“We are inspired by the Indian RTI Act. Habibullah has served as mentor to us. The Indian RTI act sets a high bar. We are also trying to match it,” Vikram Chand, senior public sector management specialist of the World Bank told Governance Now on June 29.

“The Bank has already released more than 17,000 historical documents from its archives, which are now accessible on the Bank’s website on July 1,” the release said.

The World Bank named its policy as Access to Information (AI), which is equivalent to the Right to Information Act (RTI) of India.