Wajahat Habibullah | |
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1st Chief Information Commissioner of India | |
In office 26 October 2005 – 19 September 2010 | |
Succeeded by | A. N. Tiwari |
Personal details | |
Born | 30 September 1945 |
Nationality | Indian |
Parents |
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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).
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]
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]