Information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, who retires on July 6, has cast serious aspersions on the working of the central information commission (CIC). In an exclusive interview to Governance Now, Gandhi said the appointment process for the members of the central information commission (CIC) lacks both transparency and a procedure.  Most bureaucrats are preferred for positions in the CIC because they are close to the political power system, he added. Gandhi said the present process of recruitment in CIC is, “an arbitrary political exercise of influence peddling”.

Gandhi, an alumnus of IIT Bombay and a first generation entrepreneur who sold his plastic packaging firm to become a leading RTI activist, was invited by Prithviraj Chavan, minister of state in the PM’s office, to join the commission in September 2008. 

“There is a process to appoint a driver or a peon in the commission. But there is no process for appointing commissioners. I was also appointed by a completely flawed method,” Gandhi told Governance Now in an interview to be published in our magazine’s forthcoming issue.

Pointing at three major threats to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, he said the lowest threat is from the government which tries to scuttle the law because of its reluctance and resistance. “Slightly higher than that is the threat from the judicial system.” He added that the highest threat comes from the information commission itself. “Many states and the central commission have huge pendency. And my estimate is that by 2016, the pendency will touch about 80,000 cases. And if this continues, a common man will run away from RTI. And the law will be finished,” he said.

Gandhi emphasied if the commission does not decide to deliver, five years from now the RTI Act will be dead. “As information commissioners it will be our responsibility if a great act is finished off. But I am hopeful that commissioners at some point decide to work on it.”

Talking about the resolution passed by the CIC on recent killings of RTI activists, Gandhi said, “Central commission or various states commissions must take proactive steps. If we get a complaint that somebody is attacked or killed, we collect the RTI applications filed by him and order the public authorities to issue suo motu on their websites. And ask the police to take up the investigation. If this happens, then people will understand that trying to harm a person will land them in a bigger mess.”