LoP Udhayanidhi Stalin skips info panel meet, shares reasons

CHENNAI: The proposed one-to-one meeting between Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin did not take place at the Secretariat on Friday, as the LoP skipped the selection panel meeting to appoint Information Commissioners.

The selection panel meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Vijay and attended by Speaker JCD Prabhakar. Udhayanidhi, who is also a member of the panel, did not participate. The reason for Udhayanidhi's decision was communicated to the State government but not made public.

The panel selected one State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC) and four State Information Commissioners (SIC). The names have been forwarded to Governor RV Arlekar for approval. After receiving the Governor's approval, the names of the new Information Commissioners will be announced and they will be administered the oath of office.

The Tamil Nadu Information Commission comprises a SCIC and eight SICs. Following the superannuation of SCIC Md Shakeel Akhter and SICs P Thamarai Kannan, R Priyakumar and K Thirumalaimuthu, vacancies arose in the Commission.

The State government constituted a search committee, headed by retired Justice RS Ramanathan, on July 8 to identify suitable candidates for the vacant posts. The committee invited applications from eligible candidates and completed the selection process.

After scrutinising the applications, the committee submitted its recommendations to the State government. Based on these recommendations, the selection panel met on Friday to finalise the appointments.