Opaque and unaccountable selection of Information Commissioners is the tip of the iceberg. Girish Mittal’s RTI applications are veiling a more widespread scam being carried on in broad daylight. There are literally hundreds of posts under various central ministries, theoretically meant for ‘eminent citizens’ from all walks of life, but in practice available only to political cronies, retiring bureaucrats and other insiders in the corridors of power. Ironically, various legal provisions and rules are cited as justification for such patently lawless appointments; the truth is that many of these legal provisions have no criteria for identifying suitable candidates. The appointment of 14 members of National Committee for Promotion of Social and Economic Welfare is a classic example of this.
I. Let us see how such posts are legitimately supposed to be filled.
A. What does the Constitution say? Article 16 is about Equality of Opportunity in Matters of Public Employment. It says, “There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State.
B. What is DoPT’s acknowledged role? As per DoPT’s induction material 2008: “The role of the Department of Personnel & Training can be conceptually divided into two parts, In its large nodal role, it acts as the formulator of policy and the watch-dog of the Government ensuring that certain accepted standards and norms, as laid down by it, are followed by all Ministries/Departments, in the recruitment, regulation of service conditions, posting/transfers, deputation of personnel as well as other related issues. Towards this end, guidelines are issued by it for the benefit of all Ministries/Departments and it monitors the implementation of these guidelines. It also advises all organizations of the Central Government on issues of personnel Management. At a more immediate level, the Department has the direct responsibility of being the cadre controlling authority for the IAS and the three Secretariat Services in the Central Secretariat. The Department also operates the Central Staffing Scheme under which suitable officers from All India Services and Group ‘A’ Central Services are selected and then placed in posts at the level of Deputy Secretary/Director and Joint Secretary, on the basis of tenure deputation. The Department also deals with cases of appointment to posts of Chairman, Managing Director, full-time functional Director/Member of the Board of Management of various Public Sector Undertakings/ Enterprises, Corporations, Banks and financial institutions. It also deals with the assignment of Indian experts to various developing countries.”
C. What do DoPT’s guidelines say? Point 3(1)(i) of Search Committees guidelines 1994 says, “A Search Committee can be constituted only for posts that do not fall within UPSC’s purview. Point 3(1)(ii) says, “It is to be kept in mind that as a rule, appointments in government are to be made on the basis of open advertisement. Therefore, proper advertisement of vacancies to be filled up by direct recruitment is an essential requirement. There may, however, be situations where advertisement itself may not result in adequate response for recruitment to similar posts which require specialized scientific/technical knowledge and experience. It is only in these situations that Search Committee should normally be appointed to locate suitable persons with the desired qualifications and experience to augment the response to the advertisement. Further, the introductory paragraph of Search Committee guidelines ‘07 clarifies, “These instructions are primarily applicable to posts in the Government but also apply mutatis mutandis in the case of posts in autonomous / statutory organizations.”
II. Let us see the Information unearthed by RTI applications. Activist Girish Mittal & his father Kishanlal filed RTI applications with several authorities under various central ministries asking about selection procedures.
a) RTI application to NCPSEW (National Committee for Promotion of Social and Economic Welfare) under Revenue Department of Finance Ministry Information sought: Minutes of meetings held for selection of members of National Committee for Promotion of Social and Economic Welfare Reply given: “There is no provision in law / rule of Income Tax Act 1962 to hold a meeting for selection of members of National Committee. In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 35 AC of the Income Tax Act read with sub-rule (1) and (3) of Rule 11G of Income Tax Rules 1962, the Central Government appoints the persons as Chairman and Members of the National Committee from among persons of eminence in public life. Download this RTI application and replies: http://www.box.net/shared/tuoxjupxaa
b) RTI application to Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment Information sought: In respect of various commissions under this ministry, viz. National Commission for Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Backward Classes, National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, National Minorities Commission, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, detailed information was sought about selection procedures followed. Reply given: Replies have been received so far from three of these Commissions. They all are saying the same thing: All the replies blandly assert that the appointments are as per applicable legal provisions and rules. Appointments are being made without attracting applications, issuing advertisements or circulars, and holding meetings of selection committees as mandated by DoPT’s guidelines. No minutes of meetings or correspondence are being provided as to when and how these selections and appointments are made. In two of the three cases, Mittal is asked to inspect the records. National Commission for Backward Classes states that no such material exists. Information regarding names, designations and bio data of candidates who applied for the post is denied by all three Commissions on various grounds. Download this RTI application and replies from three Commissions: http://www.box.net/shared/v2ix64bf7y
Mittal’s earlier investigations had unveiled appointments of Central Information Commissioners without any due procedure, and often in completely crooked and convoluted ways. The appointment of A N Tiwari, Satyananda Mishra and Omita Paul at Central Information Commission were terrible instances of lack of due procedure.
Clearly, accountability and transparency in appointments are missing throughout the administration.
III. Why the buck stops with DoPT.
DoPT’s induction material 2008 indicates that the buck stops with DoPT, which, being directly under the Prime Minister, is the only department empowered to tackle these malpractices in various ways. The induction material gives details of various watchdog mechanisms on corruption and administrative malpractices, all under DoPT:
4.5.1 Administrative Vigilance An important element of personnel management is the maintenance of the professional ethics and standards of the bureaucracy. The Department of Personnel & Training determines Government policy for the maintenance of the integrity of the public services and eradication of corruption and coordinates the activities of various Ministries/Departments in that area. However, all Ministries/Departments and offices of the Government of India have the direct responsibility for the maintenance of discipline and integrity of their staff by taking preventive measures and eradication of corruption in their operational area of work.
4.6 Central Vigilance Commission Advice on all vigilance matters is provided by Central Vigilance Commission. It has jurisdiction and power in r
espect of all matters to which the executive power of the Central Government extends. The Commission enjoys the same measure of independence and autonomy as the Union public Service Commission. The Commission has its office at Satarkta Bhavan, INA Colony, New Delhi.
4.7 Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of the country and watchdog of the nation to arrest the growing menace of corruption as also to investigate the various types of banking, non-banking and the multitude of economic and other conventional offences. A new addition to its function is investigation of inquiries into terrorist crimes, vandalism etc. Cases are referred to this agency, on the basis of concurrence of the State Governments, by the High Court as well as by the Supreme Court and there is an ever growing public demand for CBI investigation on account of the general perception that investigation by the CBI is more objective. The CBI has its headquarters office in Block No. 3, CGO Complex, New Delhi.
4.8 Joint Consultative Machinery There is a well-structured machinery for joint consultation between the Central Government and its employees on a wide variety of service matters having a bearing on the administration and the general interests of the Government employees. It is a three-tier machinery consisting of the National Council, the Department Council and the Regional/Office Council. Service matters, pertaining to the interests of the generality of the employees or specific groups of them, are dealt with by this machinery.
4.9 Central Administrative Tribunal In spite of the elaborate system of rules and regulations, which govern personnel management, there are Government employees who feel aggrieved by the Government decisions. The courts used to take many year to decide these cases and litigation was expensive. In order to provide speedy and inexpensive justice to employees aggrieved by Government decisions, the Government set up the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in 1985, which now deals with all cases relating to service matters which were previously dealt with by courts up to and including the High Court. There are now 17 regular Benches of the CAT functioning in various parts of the country, including its Principal Bench at Delhi.
For updates and queries, contact Girish Mittal, 93234 62428, mittalgirish @ gmail.com
Select a WP Edit Snidget below to add it to your post or page. Yes, they can be used in content areas too!
is a retired physician who practiced holistic, non-drug, mental health care for the last decade of his forty year family practice career. He is a contributor to and an endorser of the efforts of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights and was a member of MindFreedom International, the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.
While running his independent clinic, he published over 400 issues of his Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter, which was emailed to a variety of subscribers. (They have not been archived at any website.) In the early 2000s, Dr Kohls taught a graduate level psychology course at the University of Minnesota Duluth. It was titled “The Science and Psychology of the Mind-Body Connection”.
Since his retirement, Dr Kohls has been writing a weekly column (titled “Duty to Warn”) for the Duluth Reader, an alternative newsweekly published in Duluth, Minnesota. He offers teaching seminars to the public and to healthcare professionals.
[/themify_box]
">Gary G Kohls George Monbiot[/caption]
Studied in Oxford University, columnist with The Guardian newspaper, also the author of the bestselling books The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order and Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain, as well as the investigative travel books Poisoned Arrows, Amazon Watershed, No Man’s Land, How Did We Get into This Mess? Politics, Equality, Nature and other.
Prof Johan Galtung was born in Oslo. He earned the PhD degree in mathematics at the University of Oslo in 1956, and in 1957 a year later completed the PhD degree in sociology at the same university.
Prof Johan Galtung received nine honorary doctorates in the fields of Peace studies, Future studies, Social sciences, Buddhism, Sociology of law, Philosophy, Sociology and Law.
State Councilor of St. Petersburg, Russia. Founding President, Global Harmony Association (GHA) since 2005. Honorary President, GHA since 2016. Director: Tetrasociology Public Institute, Russia. Philosopher, Sociologist and Peacemaker from Harmony. Author of more than 400 scientific publications, including 18 books in 1-12 languages. Author of Tetrism as the unity of Tetraphilosophy and Tetrasociology – science of social harmony, global peace and harmonious civilisation. Director, GHA Web portal “Peace from Harmony”. Initiator, Manager, Coauthor and Editor in Chief of the book project “Global Peace Science” (GPS).
[/themify_box]
First published at :
">Leo M Semashko Robert C Koehler[/caption]
writes for the Huffington Post, Common Dreams, OpEd News and TruthOut. He considers himself a “peace journalist.” He has been an editor at Tribune Media Services and a reporter, columnist and copy desk chief at Lerner Newspapers, Chicago. Koehler launched his column in 1999. Robert Koehler has received numerous writing and journalism awards over a 30-year career in USA. He writes about values and meaning with reverence for life. He is praised as “blatantly relevant” and “a hero of democracy”.
[/themify_box]
First published at :
">Robert C Koehler Robert J Burrowes PhD[/caption]
has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of ‘Why Violence?‘
He has been a radio producer (Earthstar Radio, San Francisco), organized and worked with the homeless, and is an advocate/activist in the nonviolent protest movement for safe energy, human rights, and peaceful solutions.
He is USA Vice President of the World Constitution and Parliament Association whose mission is to build a parallel world body to the United Nations, an emerging Earth Federation with a Provisional World Parliament under the Earth Constitution.
[/themify_box]
First published at:
">Roger Kotila PhD Prof Richard Falk[/caption]
an international relations scholar, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, author, co-author or editor of 40 books, and a speaker and activist on world affairs.
Since 2002 he has lived in Santa Barbara, California, and taught at the local campus of the University of California in Global and International Studies, and since 2005 chaired the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. His most recent book is Achieving Human Rights (2009).
[/themify_box]
First published at :
">Richard Falk Dr Gray Corseri, PhD[/caption]
is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment. He has published and posted articles, fiction and poems at hundreds of venues, including, TMS, The New York Times, Village Voice, Redbook Magazine and Counterpunch.
He has published 2 novels and 2 collections of poetry, and his dramas have been produced on PBS-Atlanta and elsewhere. He has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and has taught in universities in the US and Japan, and in US public schools and prisons.
[/themify_box]
First published at :
">Gary CorseriAntonio Carlos Silva Rosa, Editor, TMS[/caption]
born 1946, is the editor of the pioneering Peace Journalism website, TRANSCEND Media Service-TMS, an assistant to Prof. Johan Galtung, and Secretary of the International Board of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.
He completed the required coursework for a Ph.D. in Political Science-Peace Studies (1994), has a Masters in Political Science-International Relations (1990), and a B.A. in Communication (1988) from the University of Hawai’i.
Originally from Brazil, he lives presently in Porto, Portugal. Antonio was educated in the USA where he lived for 20 years; in Europe/India since 1994.
[/themify_box]
First published at :
">Antonio Carlos Silva Rosa
John Scales Avery is a theoretical chemist, Associate Professor Emeritus, at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is noted for his books and research publications in quantum chemistry, thermodynamics, evolution, and history of science. His 2003 book Information Theory and Evolution set forth the view that the phenomenon of life, including its origin, evolution, as well as human cultural evolution, has its background situated in the fields of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and information theory.
He is an Indian citizen & permanent resident of Australia and a scholar, an author, a social-policy critic, a frequent social wayfarer, a social entrepreneur and a journalist;He has been exploring, understanding and implementing the ideas of social-economy, participatory local governance, education, citizen-media, ground-journalism, rural-journalism, freedom of expression, bureaucratic accountability, tribal development, village development, reliefs & rehabilitation, village revival and other.
For Ground Report India editions, Vivek had been organising national or semi-national tours for exploring ground realities covering 5000 to 15000 kilometres in one or two months to establish Ground Report India, a constructive ground journalism platform with social accountability.
He has written a book “मानसिक, सामाजिक, आर्थिक स्वराज्य की ओर”on various social issues, development community practices, water, agriculture, his ground works & efforts and conditioning of thoughts & mind. Reviewers say it is a practical book which answers “What” “Why” “How” practically for the development and social solution in India.
worked as a mediator for the church in Belfast; as faculty at The School of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, and as Executive Director, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation. He has founded several Indian NGOs, is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.
[/themify_box]
First published at -
">Vithal RajanRene Wadlow[/caption]
is the President of the Association of World Citizens, an international peace organization with consultative status with ECOSOC, the United Nations organ facilitating international cooperation on and problem-solving in economic and social issues.
[/themify_box]
">Rene WadlowBaher Kamal[/caption]
[themify_box]
Baher Kamal
Egyptian-born, Spanish-national secular journalist. He is founder and publisher of Human Wrongs Watch. Kamal is a pro-peace, non-violence, human rights, coexistence defender, with more than 45 years of professional experience. With these issues in sight, he covered practically all professional posts, from correspondent to chief editor of dailies and international news agencies.
[/themify_box]
Credits :
">Baher KamalRosa Dalmiglio with Lama Mongolia[/caption]
She is a member of the China Council Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe (special art, culture and humanity), which touches the hearts of all people and portrays the strong willpower so encouraging to 60 million Chinese disabled persons.
Ms. Dalmiglio is Intermediary Agent of CICE, Centre International Cultural Exchange, a direct subsidiary of the Ministry of Culture, People’s Republic of China. CICE is a comprehensive institution engaged in cultural exchange programs, professional publication and presentation of cultural art works such as exhibits, receiving foreign art troupes and artists, holding international cultural research programs, and producing intercultural and interreligious documentary films.
She is a member of China Disabled Person’s Federation, CDPF. She is also a member of the International Women Federation, which is concerned with the financial ethics of women s enterprises in underdeveloped areas.
[/themify_box]
credits:
">Rosa Dalmiglio
Director, Guru Arjan Dev Institute of Development Studies.
A recipient of Cultural Doctorate of Philosophy of Economics from USA. He is an active member of various professional bodies, namely -
He participated and presented papers in various International/national/regional seminars, conferences etc.. He remained member of the Academic Council of Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar. An unwearied researcher has about 200 research papers published in various international and national journals of repute and 15 research monographs to his kitty. Besides, he has authored/co-authored /edited 15 books which have been well received and highly acclaimed during his three decades of professional career. He was honoured by various national and international awards, namely, Guru Draunacharya Samman, Vijay Rattan Award and so on.
Dr Ron Paul served in U.S. House of Representatives three different periods: first from 1976 to 1977, after he won a special election, then from 1979 to 1985, and finally from 1997 to 2013.
During his first term as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul founded the Foundation for Rational Economics and Education (FREE), a non-profit think tank dedicated to promoting principles of limited government and free-market economics. In 1984, Paul became the first chairman of the Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), a conservative political group founded by Charles Koch and David Koch 'to fight for less government, lower taxes, and less regulation.' CSE started a Tea Party protest against high taxes in 2002. In 2004, Citizens for a Sound Economy split into two new organizations, with Citizens for a Sound Economy being renamed as FreedomWorks, and Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation becoming Americans for Prosperity. The two organizations would become key players in the Tea Party movement from 2009 onward.
Dr Paul proposed term-limit legislation multiple times, while himself serving a few terms in the House of Representatives. In 1984, he decided to retire from the House in order to run for the U.S. Senate, complaining in his House farewell address that 'Special interests have replaced the concern that the Founders had for general welfare.... It's difficult for one who loves true liberty and utterly detests the power of the state to come to Washington for a period of time and not leave a true cynic.'
He is known nationally and internationally as a pioneer figure in the study of culture and psychopathology who challenged the ethnocentrism and racial biases of many assumptions, theories, and practices in psychology and psychiatry.
In more recent years, he has been writing and lecturing on peace and social justice. He has published 15 edited books, and more than 250 articles, chapters, book reviews, and popular pieces.
[/themify_box]
Credits:
">Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D.Jason Hickel[/caption]
He is international consultant of the UN – FAO and international consultant for sustainable development and sustainable future of humankind of Universal State of the Earth - USE.
On 8th October 2016 he was appointed as The Chairman of the Humanity, Nature, Space and Environment protection Committee of the USE, the Supreme Council of Humanity - SCH from Athens, Greece and London, UK.
He is researcher working on: Nature; the Nature, Space and Environment protection; the Climate change system; System thinking; Globalization and global studies; Networking, Complexity and Swarm research: Sustainable Development and Sustainable Future of Humankind. He was among the pioneers researchers (1986 – 1994) to apply nature, space, and environment protection in a local community by activities we call today Local Agenda 21 Processes – a holistic program for survival of our civilization under new challenges of the third millennium.“Commencing from Local Community Sustainable Future and moving towards Sustainable Future of the Global Community of Humankind”.
He is independent researchers with many domestic and international publications and talks. Together with many researchers in co-operation worldwide within philosophy, operational research, global studies, case studies and complex problem solving research, system thinking, requisitely holism, networking and complexity, swarm research, integration and disintegration of matter and energy and universal upbringing, education and lifelong learning. He is contributing a systemic, requisitely holistic and a better understanding of the present. His latest research within the system theory, system thinking, networking, complexity and swarm research may provide a possible answer enabling people to better understand our world of humans.
During 2014 he completed 50 years of research work (1964 - 2014). This year he completed 50 years of been Dr. Vet. Med. Since 1986 he worked on the protection of Humanity, Nature, Space and Environment and completed 30 years of research.
For research on the climate change system and the book “System Thinking and Climate Change System (Against a big “Tragedy of Commons” of all of us), Ecimovic, Mayur, Mulej and co-authors, 2002, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize 2003. His work on “The Information Theory of Nature” was his second nomination for The Nobel Prize during 2007 in Physics. His third nomination for The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 was for “The Environment Theory of the Nature”, published in the book “Three Applications of the System Thinking”, Ecimovic, 2010. Within last 10 years he has contributed trilogies: “The Nature”, “The Sustainable Future of Mankind” and “The Life 2017” – please see at: www.institut-climatechange.si
I grew up in Chile, got my medical degree there, began an academic career in 1970, and left for the USA due to the military coup in early 1974. My first job in the USA was working as a public nutrition professor in the international programme of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.
I started to travel to Africa in 1975, and worked a year in Cameroun in 1980 helping to prepare their five-year nutrition plan. I then moved to New Orleans, to Tulane University’s School of Public Health, and taught in the department of nutrition for ten years, before moving to Nairobi where I was an advisor in the Ministry of Health. Seven years there got me into extensive consulting in Africa, often on nutritional issues. In 1995 moved to Vietnam where I worked for two and a half years in the Ministry of Health as a senior primary health care advisor.
Many years of touching the reality on the ground, in Latin America, then the USA, then Africa and Asia, has made me understand that the real challenge is in the social and political determinants of malnutrition. I have devoted my writings and teaching to that. Over the years, I have found an important shift in my colleagues’ attitude and understanding towards acknowledging the basic causes of malnutrition. But yet I see little happening as a result. I submit that it is our guild’s lack of experience in the political arena that explains this dichotomy. I devote much of my energy to bridge this gap, and am a fervent advocate of empowering claim holders to demand needed changes from duty bearers. Nutrition is a perfect port of entry for that. Equity, social justice and people’s empowerment in a human rights sense is what really will make a difference.
There is no alternative but to deal with nutrition problems as indivisibly linked to social, political and environmental problems. We need to address them as such. The question is: are we all prepared to do that? The answer, in my view, decides whether we are part of the solution or part of the problem. Travelling and living in different parts of the world has reinforced my conviction that we need to get down from our academic ivory towers, and need to change the curricula of our young and upcoming colleagues, to give them the tools to act in such a context. To me, public health nutrition cannot be anything but that.
[/themify_box]
">Claudio Schuftan Dr MDProf. Ram Puniyani[/caption]
