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

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. 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. He was appointed as a member of the World Bank's Info Appeals Board in July 2010.

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. He was a member of Indian Administrative Service.

Memberships

Awards

Publications