India’s most senior incumbent information commissioner, Vijai Sharma, has been chosen to be the new Chief Information Commissioner, according to media reports.
A formal announcement has not taken place, but Sharma’s apparent selection came at a meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had June 1 with the leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge; Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh.
Sources indicated that Sharma, 64, would be named as Chief Information Commissioner, a post that been vacant for over nine months after the tenure of CIC Rajiv Mathur ended on August 22, 2014.
For a biography, see the Central Information Commission website.
A formal announcement will be made after President Pranab Mukherjee gives his assent. He is on a trip until June 4, the papers said.
Three posts of information commissioners in the CIC are also vacant. Under the RTI Act, the CIC has one chief and 10 information commissioners.
There were 203 applicants for Chief Information Commissioner and 553 for Information Commissioners, according to media accounts.
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