Disclose merit list, info panel tells UPSC

India's transparency watchdog the Central Information Commission has asked the Union Public Service Commission to disclose merit list of persons and the criteria applied for selection in different government jobs. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Jul 11, 2010, 23:24:17 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

India's transparency watchdog the Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to disclose merit list of persons and the criteria applied for selection in different government jobs.

The CIC order can have implications for UPSC as now the candidates can seek information regarding the process of selection in the government jobs, which the commission had not been willing to disclose.

The commission recruits employees for most of the Central government organizations.

The UPSC has declined providing the merit list of the lecturers appointed in Medical College, Chandigarh, on the ground that the information pertained to "the core areas of the commission and the same will not serve any public interest or activity".

In a reply to an RTI application of Dr Ashok Kumar Singh, the UPSC also said that the information sought was held under a fiduciary relationship and is exempted from disclosure under the transparency law.

The commission had rejected Kumar's application for the job stating that he was over-age, following which he filed an application seeking criteria and merit list of the selected candidates.

Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah did not agree with UPSC's contention saying the information regarding the candidates selected did not fall under the definition of fiduciary relationship as defined by different courts.

The CIC defined fiduciary relationship as the "one of moral or personal responsibility, due to the better or superior knowledge or training, or superior status of the fiduciary as compared to the one whose affairs he handles".

In case of information regarding the candidates, the CIC said, the fiduciary clause was not applicable, as UPSC was not legally bound to withhold the information.

"The UPSC is, therefore, advised to review its policy on disclosure of information of this nature," Habibullah said in his order this week.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.