Hyderabad, Feb 22: In a rare move, the Governor ESL Narasimhan has rejected the recommendations of the high-power committee to appoint 8 persons as Information Commissioners. It is being said that the Congress High Command was behind the rejection. The party leadership is reported to have taken notice of the scathing criticism about the way the candidates were picked up, not only by the opposition, but also by some of the Congress leaders.

Selection of the commissioners was done by a committee comprising the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Damodara Rajanarasimha and leader of the opposition N Chandrababu Naidu. Though Naidu was also a party to the selection cleared on January 31 by the high-power selection committee, he has changed his stand after there was a storm against the selection and hurriedly submitted his dissent note on February 8.

AICC official spokesperson Renuka Choudary has recently said that the Congress leadership sought a report on the appointment of Information Commissioners from the state government and would take an appropriate decision after studying the report.

It now appears that the Governor has rejected four of the 8 names suggested by the government at the behest of the Congress High Command..

Though this is not abnormal, the Governor’s act should be taken as a set back to the government. However, if the government insists on the same names, the governor may not have the authority to reject the its recommendation a second time say some sources. This is the general situation. The governor has authority to reject or ask for reconsideration of a recommendation only once. However, some experts say that according to the Right to Information Act, governor is the appointing authority at the state level and hence he would not be obliged to accept the recommendations even a second time.

It may be mentioned here that the governor has rejected the names of Imtiaz Ahmed, Tantiya Kumari, Venkateswarlu and Vijaya Nirmala, as they all have political connections, prohibited under the Act.

Tantiya Kumari is the daughter of late Deputy Chief Minister Koneru Ranga Rao. She held several posts in the Krishna district Congress.

Venkateswarlu was a NSUI activist, though a social activist now.

Vijaya Nirmala has unsuccessfully contested as PRP candidate and lost in 2004 elections. Imtiaz Ahmed has contested as TDP candidate against the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in 2009 elections and lost. He has joined the Congress later and became close to the Chief Minister.

What will the government do now is being hotly discussed in political circles.