PM Modi, Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi Meet To Pick Chief Information Commissioner

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi are holding a closed-door meeting to decide the next Chief Information Commissioner. The appointment of information commissioners for eight vacant positions at the Central Information Commission (CIC) will also be decided by the panel.

The government had earlier informed the Supreme Court that the officials for the top posts would be selected by the PM-led panel today.

The PM chairs the panel that selects and recommends the names for appointment as Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners under Section 12 (3) of the Right to Information Act. The other members include the Leader of the Opposition and a union minister nominated by the prime minister.

The Chief Information Commissioner and 10 Information Commissioners are tasked with reviewing complaints and appeals filed by RTI applicants against unsatisfactory responses by government officials to their applications, according to the RTI Act.

The CIC is the highest appellate authority when it comes to RTI-related complaints and appeals. It currently has just two information commissioners, Anandi Ramalingam and Vinod Kumar Tiwari. Eight posts remain vacant, with 30,838 cases still pending.

Heeralal Samariya was the last Chief Information Commissioner, who demitted office on September 13 after turning 65. He had been appointed to the CIC on November 6, 2023.

Eighty-three applications were received for the Chief Information Commissioner's post in response to its May 21 advertisement, the Department of Personnel and Training had said in an RTI reply to activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (retired).

For the vacancies of Information Commissioners in the CIC, the government said that 161 applications were received.

How Chief Information Commissioner Is Appointed

The DoPT issues advertisements in newspapers and through its website to invite applications from interested persons for the appointment of the Chief Information Commissioner. These names are tabulated by the department and sent to a search committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary.

The shortlisted candidates and their applications are then forwarded to the committee led by the PM and other members. Once the Chief Information Commissioner is picked, the candidate is appointed by the President.