RSS man to be Info Commissioner

Amaninder Pal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 19

Decks have been cleared for the appointment of prominent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary and former Samparak Pramukh of its Punjab unit Dr Pawan Kumar Singla as the State Information Commissioner, along with senior Akali leader Alwinder Pal Singh Pakhoke.

Acting on the recommendations of the state government, Governor Prof Kaptaan Singh Solanki has given nod to appoint Pakhoke and Singla as the State Information Commissioners.

Singla has been active in saffron politics since his student life. He remained a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and is now serving as the Controller of Examinations, Punjabi University, Patiala (since 2009).

He played a prominent role in organising a meeting of the RSS cadre with sangh chief Mohan Bhagwant at Patiala in 2013. Till 2009, he served as a “sampark parmukh” of the Punjab unit of the RSS.

A professor of history, Singla has also served as the organising secretary of the North India unit of Itihass Sankalan Samiti, an arm of the RSS involved in reinterpreting history within context of “traditional and cultural ethos of India.”

“I served on these posts before joining the university. But yes, I am committed to the ideology of RSS”, he said.