JOIN USA committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is understood to have decided on the new Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), a post lying vacant for about a fortnight.
The meeting of the committee, held on Wednesday in the Prime Minister’s office in Parliament, was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and leader of the Congress Party in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjuna Kharge, sources said.
The name of the next CIC has been finalised, they said. The name was not disclosed.The Central Information Commission is working headless for the second time since the BJP came to power in 2014, after Vijai Sharma completed his tenure on December 1.
The transparency watchdog was without a chief for nearly 10 months after the completion of tenure of the then chief Rajiv Mathur in August 2014.
At present, there are seven Information Commissioners — Basant Seth, Yashovardhan Azad, Sharat Sabharwal, Manjula Prasher, M A Khan Yusufi, Madabhushanam Sridhar Acharyulu and Sudhir Bhargava— in the commission. As per convention, the senior-most Information Commissioner is made the chief.