TMC govt proposal for appointment of information commissioners flawed: Bengal governor

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday said the state government’s recommendation for appointment of former director general of police Virendra and ex-additional chief secretary Naveen Prakash as information commissioners is “flawed”. The governor also attached with his tweet a letter he had written on December 6 noting that people from different walks of life had responded to the advertisement for appointment to the post of state Information Commissioner of West Bengal Information Commission.

“Govt seeks appointment of Ex DGP Virendra now Chairman WB Police Recruitment Board & Ex ACS Naveen Prakash now Pr Adv (Infrastructure) as Information Commissioners. Recommendation flawed in view of Supreme Court directives. Response sought on Dec 6 awaited,” he tweeted.

In the letter that he had earlier written to the government, Dhankhar had said that apart from the claims that the respective bio-data of the two fulfil the criteria for appointment to the post, the “minutes” (of state government communication) do not refer to any other aspect.

“Neither the minutes nor the recommendations can be reckoned in conformity of the binding directives of the Honourable Supreme Court on the point,” he wrote in the letter.

Dhankhar, who had continued run-ins with the government on various issues, including a bill on bifurcation of Howrah Municipal Corporation to form Bally Municipality, iterated on the microblogging site that no file was pending at his end.