Former Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, K S Sripathy was appointed the state Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) on Wednesday.
Sripathy is considered to be a close aid of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
The development was met with protests by Right to Information (RTI) activists who had been opposing Sripathy’s appointment since the reports that he was in the race of becoming the CIC started doing the rounds.
Three of the activists who were protesting against lack of transparency in the appointment process were picked up for questioning by the police from outside the Raj Bhawan on Wednesday noon.
The activists, V Madhav, Gopalakrishnan and Siva Elango were released in the evening. “They were booked under sections 151 and 71A od CrPC, but the police had a change of mind and they released the three without pressing any charges,” said Nityanand Jayaraman, an activist who participated in the demonstration.
As chief secretary, Sripathy was a strong opponent of the state information commission’s order directing the government to find out if IAS and IPS officers had disclosed their assets.
The state information commissioner is appointed by the governor on the recommendation of a selection committee comprising the chief minister, leader of opposition and a member of the state assembly.
Leader of opposition J. Jayalalitha had termed the selection as “illegal” when the government refused to provide her with a list of nominated candidates.
Jayalalitha had asked for the list of candidates after she was briefed by RTI activists including V Madhav about lack of transparency in the selection of information commissioners. They also asked her to make sure that this time the selections would be transparent and only appropriate candidates were selected.