Haryana Government on Wednesday gave nod to appoint former State DGP Yashpal Singhal as Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and retired HCS officer Narender Yadav as State Information Commissioner (SIC).
A high-level committee headed by Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar and comprising Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Rao Narbir Singh and leader of the Opposition in the Haryana Assembly and INlD’s senior leader Abhay Chautala approved the two names for the top posts.
Both Yashpal Singhal and Narender Yadav were seen a frontrunners for the respective posts.
Former Haryana DGP Singhal had retired as DGP (Prisons) recently.
Singhal was unceremoniously removed as the State police chief in April last year, for the alleged failure of the State police to control violence during the February 2016 Jat quota violence that had left 31 persons dead and property worth hundreds of crores of rupees destroyed in Haryana.
While Singhal’s name was opposed by the opposition for the top post, he was seen as the frontrunner for the assignment, considering his close links with RSS.
On the other hand, Narender Yadav, whose appointment as member of Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) was withheld at the eleventh hour in August 2016, has now been appointed as State Information Commissioner (SIC). Yadav’s name was dropped from the final list of HPSC members last year following the protest of Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma, who had raised the issue with the party high command on the day of oath ceremony.
leader of opposition, Abhay Chautala, while talking to the mediapersons, after the high-level committee meeting said, “I did not register any protest as majority was with the two names that have been finalised.”
Chautala, however, said that retired IAS officer Rajan Gupta should have been appointed on the top post.
The INlD leader had a few days back expressed displeasure over the name of Yashpal Singhal for the post of CIC, stating that Singhal was removed as state DGP.
Confirming the appointment of Singhal as CIC and Yadav as SIC, Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Rao Narbir Singh while talking to the mediapersons said that both will be administered oath soon.
Responding to the allegations of Chautala, Rao Narbir said that the final list of three names for state CIC posts did not include IAS Rajan Gupta.
The Cabinet Minister also said that during the meeting, Chautala did not raise any objection to the two names finalized for the posts.
A screening committee of officers headed by Haryana Chief Secretary D S Dhesi had discussed the claims of various contenders for the two posts and then sent a panel of three contenders each to the high-powered selection committee, headed by the Chief Minister.
On appointment of Singhal as CIC, Rao Narbir said that he was a deserving candidate thus was selected for the post. The Chief Information Commissioner and State Information Commissioner hold the office for a term of five years from the date on which when he enters upon the office or till he attains the age of sixty-five years.
The salary and allowances payable to the State Chief Information Commissioner is the same as that of an Election Commissioner while in case of the State Information Commissioner, it is the same as that of the Chief Secretary of the State Government.