Wajahat Habibullah

Last updated

Wajahat Habibullah
1st Chief Information Commissioner of India
In office
26 October 2005 19 September 2010

Wajahat Habibullah (born 30 September 1945) is the former chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities. [1] Prior to this, he held the position of the first Chief Information Commissioner of India. [2] He was an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) from 1968 until his retirement in August 2005. [3] He was also Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (Local Government).

Contents

Personal life

Habibullah belongs to a prominent and progressive Taluqdari (Saidanpur taluqa, Barabanki district) family of the United Provinces. He is the son of General Enaith Habibullah, a former commandant of the NDA, Khadakwasla, and Hamida Habibullah, a parliamentarian and educationist. [4] [5] He was Divisional Commissioner of eight districts of the Kashmir Division in the state of Jammu and Kashmir between 1991 and 1993, which was abruptly terminated by a near fatal road accident, while negotiating with militants occupying the Hazratbal shrine in Kashmir. His children Amar Habibullah and Saif Habibullah are prominent businessmen and his wife Shahila Habibullah is a social worker. [6] He was appointed as a member of the World Bank's Info Appeals Board in July 2010. [7]

Education

He studied at Welham Boys School then known as Welham prep school and later joined the Doon School at Dehradun, from where he also did his Senior Cambridge in 1961; Bachelor of Arts (Honours)History from St Stephens' College, University of Delhi in 1965; and Master of Arts (History) from University of Delhi in 1967. [8] He was a member of Indian Administrative Service. [8] [9] [10]

Memberships

Awards

Publications

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References

  1. "Archive News". The Hindu . 2 February 2011. Archived from the original on 5 February 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  2. "Use RTI to hold govt accountable,Habibullah tells minorities - The Indian Express". The Indian Express. 10 October 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  3. Backwoods Babus | Anjali Puri
  4. "SAIDANPUR" . Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  5. "List of barabanki Taluqdars". www.britishindiaassociation.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012.
  6. "The Sunday Tribune - Books" . Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  7. "CIC chief appointed member of World Bank's info appeals board". The Times of India . Archived from the original on 6 June 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  8. 1 2 National Commission for Minorities
  9. The Sunday Tribune - Books
  10. ‘If the government is not satisfied, they don’t have to kill me; they just have to transfer me’