Nearly 150 applicants for CIC posts are serving or retired bureaucrats
22 Jul, 2013Though the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 prescribes for appointment of ten information commissioners besides the chief information commissioner in the Central Information Commission (CIC), the current strength of the commission is seven including the chief information commissioner. Out of these, the Chief Information Commissioner Satyanand Mishra and two other Information Commissioners are due to retire by December 2013 while two more Information Commissioners will be retiring in 2014.
Looking at the situation and following a recommendation from the existing chief information commissioner, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has speeded up the process for fresh appointments and has already received 422 applications for CIC posts. The applicants include around 150 serving and retired bureaucrats, and also RTI activists like Subhash Agarwal from Delhi and C J Karira from Hyderabad. Almost 50 applicants are from legal field though there is none from serving or retired judges of the Supreme Court or high courts, 20 from civil society and 40 with journalism background.
The applications will be shortlisted by a screening committee under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary and final selection will be done by a selection panel comprising of the Prime Minister, the Law Minister and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.