Just two days after slapping an interim stay on the appointment of the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (SCPD), the Orissa High Court on Thursday issued notices to the Government on a writ challenging the appointment of two Information Commissioners in the Odisha Information Commission.
The Government in May last year had appointed laxmi Narayan Pattanayak, an administrator of justice and governance having 35 years of experience and Sashiprava Bindhani, a social worker with nearly 30 years of experience, as State Information Commissioners (SICs).
The names of Pattanayak and Bindhani along with four others were shortlisted by a four-member high-level scrutiny committee headed by the then Development Commissioner UN Behera for selection to be appointed from among 44 applicants.
later, the selection committee headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and also consisting of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Arukh and leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra selected the SICs in a majority view with a note of disagreement from Mishra.
But challenging the appointments, rights activist Pradeep Kumar Pradhan, an SIC aspirant, has moved the High Court questioning the legality and validity of scrutiny, selection and appointment as the same have not been made as envisaged under Section 15 (3) of the Right to Information Act of 2005.
Holding preliminary hearing, Justice BR Sarangi issued notices to the Government and the two SICs, who have also been made respondents to the petition, asking them to file their individual counters within two weeks.