New information commissioner of Bengal appointed, LoP skips meeting

Kolkata, Feb 15 Former DGP of West Bengal Virendra, known to be a close confidante of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has been appointed new information commissioner at a meeting which was not attended by the leader of the opposition (LoP), Suvendu Adhikari.

As per protocol the meeting, where the information commissioner is supposed to be appointed, should be attended by the chief minister, state parliamentary affairs minister and the leader of the opposition. Although the chief minister and state Parliamentary affairs minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay were present in the meeting which was held in the chief minister's room in Assembly premises, Adhikari was conspicuous by his absence.

Just an hour before the beginning of the meeting, Adhikari issued a Twitter message explaining why he decided to skip the meeting. "I have declined the invitation to join the Committee Meeting, as because the advertising guidelines for inviting applications have been violated, reducing it to a farcical process to approve an already pre-decided Candidate."

After the meeting, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said that although Adhikari received the invitation to attend the meeting 12 days back, his reply expressing inability to attend the meeting reached just a couple of hours ago.

"His reasons for not attending the meeting are illogical. There is no question of debate in the matter since proper advertisements were given for the appointment of the new information commissioner," said Chattopadhyay.

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