LoP Udhayanidhi Stalin likely to skip CM Vijay-led meet to select info panel chiefs

CHENNAI: Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin may skip his first one-to-one meeting with Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, as the selection panel to appoint new Information Commissioners is scheduled to meet at the Secretariat on Friday.

The selection panel, chaired by the Chief Minister, comprises the Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Assembly Speaker, JCD Prabhakar. However, the Leader of the Opposition has decided to skip the meeting, according to sources.

The reason for Udhayanidhi's decision is expected to be officially communicated by his side on Friday morning.

Officials recalled that a similar situation arose during the previous AIADMK regime, when then-Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami convened the selection panel to appoint Information Commissioners. The then Leader of the Opposition, MK Stalin, boycotted the meeting and submitted a letter to the government explaining his decision.

Stalin had then alleged that the government had failed to maintain transparency in the selection process.

The present Leader of the Opposition is now expected to follow a similar course by skipping Friday's meeting.

The Tamil Nadu Information Commission comprises a Chief Information Commissioner and eight Information Commissioners. Following the superannuation of Chief Information Commissioner Md Shakeel Akhter and Information Commissioners P Thamarai Kannan, R Priyakumar and K Thirumalaimuthu, five vacancies have arisen in the Commission.

The State government had constituted a search committee headed by retired Justice RS Ramanathan to identify suitable candidates for the vacant posts. The committee initiated the selection process and invited applications from eligible candidates.

After completing the search process, the committee submitted the list of shortlisted candidates to the State government. Based on the recommendations, the selection panel headed by the Chief Minister is scheduled to meet on Friday to finalise the appointments.