The Uttar Pradesh government on March 12 faced criticism over the appointment of State Information Commissioners with Swatantra Prakash Gupt, one among the ten newly appointed Information Commissioners allegedly associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Opposition parties alleged that this was a blatant violation of norms, and an outright flouting of the rules.
While the Right to Information Act says that any commissioner should not be connected with a political outfit, Mr. Gupt is alleged to be the legal cell co-convener of the U.P. BJP.
According to the RTI Act, 2005, “The State Chief Information Commissioner or a State Information Commissioner shall not be a Member of Parliament or Member of the Legislature of any State or Union territory, as the case may be, or hold any other office or profit or connected with any political party or carrying on any business or pursuing any profession.”
“Might is right. The Yogi government has flouted the rules. The BJP leader Swatantra Prakash Gupt was made the Information Commissioner of U.P. When BJP leader becomes Information Commissioner then who will give information on RTI,” the U.P. Congress asked on X (formerly Twitter).
The issue came to fore when various BJP leaders congratulated Mr. Gupt after his appointment as an information commissioner, and in the process referred to him as a senior party leader.
“Heartiest congratulations to Shri Swatantra Prakash Gupt, co-convenor, legal cell, Bharatiya Janata Party Uttar Pradesh for being appointed as the State Information Commissioner,” a social media post by Prashant Singh Atal, convenor BJP, Uttar Pradesh (legal cell), read.
Many district BJP leaders of Badaun, where Mr. Gupt hails from, similarly described him as a senior BJJP leader while congratulating him for the appointment.
“Congratulations to senior BJP leader Swatantra Prakash Gupt for his appointment as State Information Commissioner,” Sardendu Pathak ‘Sharad’, district BJP vice-president, Badaun. said.
“I am not in the privy regarding this issue [referring to the relationship Mr. Gupt has with the BJP], Prashant Singh Atal, who helms the State BJP legal cell, can better respond to this query,” Rakesh Tripathi, U.P. BJP spokesperson, said.
The Uttar Pradesh government on March 7 appointed former Director General of Police Rajkumar Vishwakarma as new the Chief Information Commissioner. Along with Mr. Vishwakarma, ten Information Commissioner namely Mohd. Nadeem, Virendra Pratap Singh, Rajendra Singh, Swatantra Prakash, P.N. Dwivedi, Sudhir Kumar Singh, Dileep Kumar Agnihotri, Rakesh Kumar, Girijesh Kumar Chaudhary, and Shakuntala Gautam were also appointed by the State.
