Over 30 per cent of posts of chief information commissioners and information commissioners are lying vacant across the country.

The growing belief in Dilli is that the Centre is not keen on promoting transparency in the administration. The Central Information Commission (CIC) will see the exit of four information commissioners including the chief information commissioner, R.K. Mathur, following the completion of their term. The CIC and ICs hold office for a term of five years or till they attain the age of 65 years.

Retired IPS officer Yashovardhan Azad and M. Sridhar Acharyulu are completing their term on 21 November. CIC R.K. Mathur is also retiring on November 24 whereas Amitava Bhattacharya (Retd IAS) will be retiring on December 1. This will leave the CIC panel with just three information commissioners, namely Sudhir Bhargava, Bimal Julka and Divya Prakash Sinha, instead of the sanctioned strength of 11.

The process to fill up the vacancies kick-started in the middle of the year but the appointments are yet to be made. The Centre has not filled any vacant posts in the CIC since 2016.

Things are no better elsewhere in the country. Over 30 per cent of posts of chief information commissioners and information commissioners are lying vacant across the country. There has been no appointment of state chief information commissioners (as on October 10, 2018) for Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Nagaland. There are vacancies of information commissioners in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Tripura, among others.

Perils of ignoring protocol
The Trumpian snub to India’s official invitation to the US President to be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade next year may have been downplayed in the media, but sources say that MEA mandarins are still rather upset at the way this was dealt with. Once again, it is being said, the Prime Minister’s Office handled the invitation. But diplomats who have experience in dealing with such high-level official visits say that the red-faces could have been avoided had the government chosen to involve the chief of protocol, who sits in the Ministry of External Affairs.

It is being pointed out that although the PM has the final say in such issues, the chief of protocol, who is usually a joint secretary-level babu, is the point person. The fiasco over Donald Trump’s refusal to be part of Republic Day celebrations could have been avoided, only if the Modi government had followed “proper protocol”. That means obtaining a broad consent from the invitee through regular MEA outreach before sending an official invitation to ensure that there are no hiccups later on.

Warring rail babus
Within the precincts of Rail Bhawan, a tussle has broken out between the different cadre services of the Indian Railways. The long-festering feud is between the mechanical engineers (IRSME) service and the traffic (IRTS) and electrical engineers (IRSEE) services. The latter alleged that the mechanical engineers seem to have a stranglehold on all important posts in the Railways, even if they do not possess the requisite qualifications.

Sources say that recently IRTS officers have written to the ministry and also the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) about being sidelined. Incidentally, the chairman of the Railway Board, Ashwini Lohani, belongs to the IRSME.

However, sources say, IRSME has always had an edge over the others as they were recruited through the special class railway apprentice exam conducted by the Union Public Service Commission after class 12, which gave them an age advantage over others. The ministry had earlier proposed merging various services but the proposal has not been taken up for discussion.