CIC notice on Menon appointment

New Delhi: Acting on an RTI application of a senior IFS officer seeking access to file notings on the appointment of foreign secretary, the Central Information Commission has issued notices to PMO, external affairs ministry, DoPT and the Cabinet secretariat.
The CIC in its notices has sought explanation from the four offices over appointment of foreign secretary Shiv Shanker Menon, after the RTI application was filed by senior bureaucrat Veena Sikri.
A division Bench comprising chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and information commissioner O P Kejariwal is likely to hear Sikri’s application on April 24.
Sikri, a 1971 batch IFS officer had approached the CIC on March 9, seeking disclosure of file notings pertaining to Menon’s appointment as foreign secretary.
She in her application alleged that Menon, a 1972 batch officer was appointed for the post ignoring officers senior to him.
Sikri also sought information on rules followed by the government in selection of foreign secretary and the process which led to Menon’s appointment superseding certain officers. Sikri had returned in November last year to Delhi from Dhaka where she was posted as India’s high commissioner in protest against Menon’s appointment. PTI
Publication: Times Of India Delhi; Date:2007 Apr 15; Section:Times Nation; Page Number 6