Early Times Special
Jammu, Dec 6: Raj Dev Sharma, a resident of Akhnoor, is expected to appear in person on Monday to argue his case against the appointment of Wajahat Habibullah as the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of Jammu & Kashmir.
Mr Sharma’s contention is that Mr Habibullah cannot be the CIC under the Jammu & Kashmir Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2009. The J&K Act is similar to the Central Act but the legislators have tweaked it here and there, changing its language somewhat.

What this means is that the J&K RTI Act is not the same as Central Act which applies elsewhere. Under Section 3 of the Act, the applicability of the RTI Act has been defined and it says: ``Subject to the provisions of the Act, every person residing in the State shall have the right to information.’’
The argument advanced by Mr Sharma is that since Mr Habibullah does not reside in the state, he cannot use the RTI Act under Section 3. Going a step further, he contends that since Mr Habibullah, being a non-resident, cannot use the J&K RTI Act, the question of his being appointed as the CIC does not arise.
The petition challenging Mr Habibullah’s appointment is to be heard on Monday.
At one level, Mr Habibullah’s appointment as the CIC is being interpreted as a smokescreen by Kashmir-watchers. They believe that Mr Habibullah is being brought in to act as facilitator in talks between the Centre and the separatists.
Mr Sharma has also challenged the appointment of some other officers by the state government who are supposed to work under Mr Habibullah once he takes charge. Under the J&K RTI Act, the appointments are to be made ``in consultation with the CIC’’.
Mr Sharma has pointed out that since the CIC has not taken charge, the government cannot claim to have made other appointments ``in consultations with the CIC’’ as mandated by the Act. The state government has filed a caveat, through counsel Sanjay Kakkar, requesting that it be heard in the case. Top posts like that of governor, chief secretary and director-general of police etc are being held by outsiders, a senior counsel said. Besides, several IAS and IPS officers are also not state subjects, just as it has often happened in the past.
Given this, the legal team representing the government is likely to argue that on the same analogy, there cannot be any bar on the appointment of an outsider on the post of the CIC
It is not clear whether the petition will be treated as a public interest litigation petition and heard by a Division Bench or by a single judge.