Shailesh Gandh appoinetd Central Information Commissioner

MUMBAI : For RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi who has been in forefront of taking up several public causes and fighting against a corrupt establishment this new posting is going to be a real challenge. Ever since the news that he has been selected for the post of the Central Information Commissioner, Delhi came out on friday, his phone has not stopped ringing-right from ordinary citizens who had taken his guidance for filing RTI queries to civic activists called up to congratulate him. "My philosophy and ideals will not undergo any change. Infact , if the system try to co-opt me, I may call it quits as I am only responsible to the people of this country ,'' Gandhi says. The 61-year-old former IIT alumnus, who was awarded the Nani Palkhiwala award for civil liberties this year, had used the RTI act effectively for better governance and accountability in public life. After filing the RTI queries, Gandhi had to pursue long battles with the establishment, be it exposing the anomalies in the PM and CM 's relief fund, the controversial Crawford Market proposal or the former state forest minister Surupsinh Naik's illegal stay at the JJ hospital during his prison tenure. (TOI had first reported all these cases in detail in the last two years.) Gandhi decided to take up the post as information commissioner as the pendency of appeals had touched an all-time high. While the number of appeals at State Information Commission have touched over 16,000, the appeal at CIC have touched over 8,000. On an average , the information commissioner disposes 15-200 appeals every month. "This is a cause of worry. My commitment is that I will dispose of 350 -400 appeals every month,'' Gandhi said. He said he will try to keep the pendency to a minimum of three months. "I also plan to take a token salary of Rs 1 and do this as a honorary work I have earned enough to lead a simple life,'' he says. Five years ago, Gandhi had sold his successful plastic manufacturing company that he had run for 23 years, so that he could spent the rest of his life pursuing social work. "I felt I had got everything in life, a good education, a successful career, and good family life. Now the time had arrived to give something back to the society,'' he said. Even senior bureaucrats at Mantralya admit that though they have different opinions on issues like disbursal of CM's relief fund, they respect him as he always present his case very precisely and logically.

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