The Centre will appoint former Indian Foreign Service officer and Information Commissioner Yashvardhan Sinha the new Chief Information Com...
The Centre will appoint former Indian Foreign Service officer and Information Commissioner Yashvardhan Sinha the new Chief Information Commissioner, despite objections from Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Opposition member in the high-powered selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, The Indian Express reported on Friday.
The appointment comes two months after the position at the top transparency watchdog fell vacant. The government also appointed journalist Uday Mahurkar as an Information Commissioner. “Yes, I have accepted the offer letter that I got,” the journalist told the newspaper.
The decision was taken after an October 24 meeting of the high-powered selection panel, where Chowdhury had reportedly submitted a dissent note. The Opposition leader objected to the manner in which the shortlisting process was carried out, alleging a failure to follow the Supreme Court’s transparency guidelines issued in February 2019, according to The Hindu.
Chowdhury also objected to the fact that Mahurkar had been shortlisted for a commissioner position although he had not been on the list of 355 applicants. He said the journalist’s name had been “skydropped” out of nowhere.
Unidentified officials told The Indian Express that Chowdhury referred to Mahurkar’s articles, comments and his social media profile, saying he was “an open supporter of the ruling political party and its ideology”.
The senior Congress leader...
