Appointments of three Information Commissioners soon: Jitendra Singh

NEW DELHI: The appointments of three more Information Commissioners will be done soon, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said here today.

"The appointments of Chiefs of Central Vigilance Commission ( CVC) and Central Information Commission ( CIC) have been approved by President Pranab Mukherjee. Three more Information Commissioners will be appointed soon," Singh told PTI.

Former CBDT chief K V Chowdary and Information Commissioner Vijai Sharma were today appointed Central Vigilance Commissioner and Chief Information Commissioner, two key posts that were lying vacant for over nine months

The appointments have come after opposition leaders including Congress President Sonia Gandhi had attacked the government over keeping these posts vacant and raised questions whether it was afraid of transparency.

T M Bhasin, Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Bank, has also been appointed as Vigilance Commissioner while Sudhir Bhargava, former Social Justice and Empowerment Secretary, has been named as Information Commissioner.

Their appointments were approved today by President Pranab Mukherjee, a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson said, a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge recommended their names.

When asked about delay in filing the vacancies, the Minister attributed it to the "new transparent process" of selection adopted by the government.

"We made a new transparent process of selection in CVC and CIC appointments. Unlike the past practice of promoting the senior most Information Commissioner as CIC's Chief, we called for applications for all eligible candidates," said Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

He said the government is committed to ensuring transparency in governance.

With today's appointment, the CVC is in its full strength. Whereas, the CIC has three more vacancies of Information Commissioners.