Centre to appoint two Information Commissioners in CIC

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) Two new Information Commissionerswill be appointed in transparency watchdog — CentralInformation Commission (CIC). The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) hassought nominations from eligible individuals by early nextmonth. "Two of the Information Commissioners in the Commissionare due to complete their tenure on December 31, 2016 andFebruary 17, 2017 respectively. Therefore, it is proposed toappoint two new Information Commissioners in the Commission intheir place," the DoPT said in a public notice. The Right to Information (RTI) Act provides that theInformation Commissioner shall be person of eminence inpublic life with wide knowledge and experience in law, scienceand technology, social service, management, journalism,mass-media or administration and governance. The Commission shall have the Chief InformationCommissioner and upto ten Information Commissioners. The CIC,which is mandated to hear appeals and complaints under the RTIAct, is in its full strength now. Information Commissioners M A Khan Yusufi and Basant Sethwill demit office in December this year and in mid-Februarynext year, respectively. Giving details of eligibility and other conditions, theDoPT said the Information Commissioner shall not be a Memberof Parliament, Member of the Legislature of any state or unionterritory, hold any other office of profit, connected with anypolitical party or carrying on any business or pursuing anyprofession. "It is clarified that cessation/termination of holding ofoffice of profit, pursuing any profession or carrying anybusiness is a condition precedent to the appointment of aperson as Information Commissioner," it said. The Information Commissioner shall hold office for a termof five years from the date on which he enters upon his officeor till he attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. Persons fulfilling the criteria and interested forappointment to the post of Information Commissioner may sendtheir particulars to the DoPT by October 3, 2016. RTI activists commodore Lokesh Batra said that thegovernment should consider the names of applicants from civilsocieties also. "The government’s initiative of advertising posts of twoInformation Commissioners well in time is a welcome step. Thistime we hope that government will consider the names ofapplicants from civil society as well", he said. PTI AKVRG