Chief Information Commissioner of Odisha SIC resigns

Mr. Tarun Kanti Mishra, the Chief Information Commissioner at the Odisha State Information Commission (SIC), has tendered his resignation from the post citing ‘personal reasons’. In his letter of resignation dated January 5, 2015 adressed to the Governor S C Jamir, Mishra has cited his desire to go on a long vacation to the US as the reason for resignation. He was said to be under pressure from activists who had charged him for amassing land from government agencies through false affidavits. He had allegedly taken a residential plot (3979 sq ft) from Bhubaneswar Development Authority in 1989 and later, in 1992, a plot was allotted by the general administration department in the name of Sunanda Mishra, his wife.

Mishra is a former IAS officer (1975 batch) who worked as the state chief secretary before being appointed as the Chief Information Commissioner at the Orissa SIC in November 2010. He was to superannuate on August 1, 2015. It is likely that Mr. Pramod Mohanty who is currently working as the information commissioner, would preside as CIC pending the appointment of a regular chief.