August 4, 2026

RTI opens up flood-gate of conspiracy in appointment of OIC

RTI opens up flood-gate of conspiracy hatched to ensure arbitrary appointment by Govt. of Odisha in
the appointment for the post of State Information Commissioner

After long battle of 3 months
with State bureaucracy, the Information and
Public Relation Department, Govt. of Odisha, the Nodal Department for
implementation of RTI Act in Odisha was
forced to disclose the information about details of procedure followed (?) for selection
and appointment in the post of
SIC of Odisha. The chronological of the
events led to disclosure
of the information which brought
to limelight the arbitrary appointment is
presented below for the readers’
reference.

1. On
18.5.15, RTI Application was submitted to the PIO, Department of Information
and Public Relations seeking information about procedure followed for the said
post. The details of information sought and the information provided by the PIO
is as follows.

Information Sought for	Information supplied by the PIO	Remarks
Provide information about whether the State Govt. has developed any written procedure for appointment in the post of Chairman and Members of Odisha Information Commission. If yes, please provide copy of it.	No information supplied	There is no written procedure with Govt. for selection of the candidates for the post of Information commissioner. That’s why the selection is arbitrary and politically motivated.
Provide information about details of procedure followed for issuing advertisement to nominating candidates to the post of Chairman and Members of Odisha Information Commission.	File noting supplied
Provide list of Candidates applied for the post of Chairman and Members of Odisha Information Commission following the advertisement	list of Candidates was not supplied	This information was kept in secret. It shows the ulterior motive of Odisha bureaucracy.
Provide information about details of criteria taken up for shortlising candidates for the post of Chairman and Members of Odisha Information Commission which was presented to the selection Committee and name of the shortlisted candidates.	Information provided
Provide details of reason / justification behind rejecting the candidature of the applicants applied for the post of Members of Odisha Information Commission ( information to be provided candidature-wise)	No information supplied.	As because the information was arbitrary and pre-designed. This information is not available with the PIO.
Provide name of the Scrutiny Committee assigned to scrutinize the application and copy of the proceedings of that committee, if any	Information supplied
Provide information about the criteria taken up or the procedure followed for scrutinizing the application of the applicants.	Information provided
Provide copy of the proceedings of the selection Committee meeting held twice for nominating the name for the post of Chairman and Members of Odisha Information Commission	Copy of proceedings of one selection committee headed by Chairman-cum- Chief Minister, Odisha meeting held on 16.5.14 was provided.	Copy of the proceeding of first selection Committee held on 30.4.15 was not provided. It needs to be mentioned here that Sri Narasingha Mishra, leader of Opposition who is the member of the selection Committee left the meeting with objection.
. Provide information about the views of the opposition leader or dissenting note, if any given by the opposition leader as member of the selection Committee.	Information supplied	Sri Narasigha Mishra said the shortlisted persons are not persons of eminence in public life as defined in Paragraph-99 of the judgement of Hon’ble Supreme Court and therefore they are not eligible to be appointed.
Provide copy of the file noting starting from the process of issuing advertisement to finalization of candidates for the post of Chairman ad Members of Odisha Information Commission in the selection committee.	Information supplied
Provide copy of the letter sent to Governor, Odisha proposing the name of two candidates for appointment in the post of Chairman and Members of Odisha Information Commission	No information supplied.

2. Critical Comments

A. Total
number of 44 candidates applied
for the post of State
Information Commissioner.

B. While
analysing the proceedings of the
High-level Scrutiny Committee headed by
Sri U.N. Behera, Development Commissioner with members, Principal Secretary,
Dept. of Law and Principal Secretary,
Dept. of General Administration, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, I and PR Dept. as
Member Convener , It was found that the Committee had taken up three criteria for the
selection of Candidates i.e., minimum age of 45 years, at least 20 years of experience and
eminence in public life catering to
mandatory provisions as envisaged in the section 15 (5) of the RTI Act. Keeping
these criteria in view , the Committee after considering the details of the applicants, their educational
qualification, eminence ad experience
shortlisted 6 candidates for the post of Information Commissioner. But in interestingly, there is no
justification cited by the Committee about rejection of application of other candidates, though they
fulfil these criteria.

C. Fearing
that arbitrary procedure followed by
the Scrutiny committee which may be exposed, the PIO has
not provided any information about details of candidates who have
applied for the post of the Information ( except shortlisted candidates). This is true
character of Odisha Government which falsely projects as a transparent
Government.

D. The
Committee should have given justification
against each candidate in respect of their eligibility for which only 6
candidates were eligible for being shortlisted for the said post.

E. Similarly, the proceedings of the
selection Committee headed by Chief Miister has
not given any justification / reason why the four out of 6 shortlisted candidates were not eligible for the post of State Information
Commissioner.
They are also prominent and eminent figure in Odisha. These four shortlisted candidates are as follows

Ms. Sanghamitra Mohanty	Post Graduate Degree in Science, Ph.D and bachelor of Law, Director of School of Women’s studies, Vice Chancellor of North Odisha University, Baripada, Developed technologies and tools to deal with Odia language which are included in 13 Intellectual Property Rights, recipient of Samanta Chandra Sekhar Award from Odisha Bigyan academy, Govt. of Odisha and having 36 years of vast experience and eminence in research field.
Sri Devaraj Raut	B.SC. Degree with LLB. He served as Principal Secretary to Law Dept., Special Officer ( Administration), Odisha High Court, Addl. District and Session Judge, Fast Track Court, Registrar ( Judicial), Odisha High Court, Special Judge, CBI, having 32 years of experience in the field of administration and justice.
Sri Hrushikesh Tripathy	Post-graduate degree with Bachelor of Law, Holds various important post in Govt. as Special secretary, Water Resoures, Secretary, Dept. of Sports and Youth Affairs, covered wide range of subjects like Revenue, Panchayati Raj, Rural Development etc.
Sri Janardhan Diwakar Sharma	Msc. Degree, LLB and also MSC in Forestry having 37 years experience as a Indian Forest service Officer. He was Principal Chief Conservator of Forest , Deputy Inspector of General , Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India

Conclusion

So, earlier allegation of arbitrary
appointment without following any transparent procedure was proved true. The
procedure followed was just eye-wash exercise and sheer deception. The appointment made by the Govt. is
pre-designed, pre-fixed and politically motivated.

Pradip Pradhan

M-9937843482

Date- 31.7.15