Chennai:
The appointment of a top bureaucrat as the head of the crucial information commission in Tamil Nadu is likely to trigger a major political row.
Former Chief Secretary K S Sripathi, who retired on Tuesday, has been appointed as the state Chief Information Commissioner of Tamil Nadu.
The selection process of Sripathi, believed to be a close aide of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, was shrouded in secrecy.
This is days after AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa called the proposed move to appoint Sripathi illegal.
As Sripathi was being sworn in on Wednesday, RTI activists protested outside the Raj Bhavan against the lack of transparency.
"It shows that there is no justice in this state now. The Chief Information Commissioner is about to be appointed inside Raj Bhawan. This has happened without any transparency at all. Even now we don't know who the CIC will be. That's very bad. We are protesting and condemning that," said V Madhav, an RTI activist.