CIC to have 3 new information commissioners.

Livemint:New Delhi:Anuja:Sunday, February 26, 2012.

The Central Information Commission (CIC), which oversees the implementation of the crucial Right to Information (RTI) Act, is all set to add to its list three new information commissioners including former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Rajeev Mathur.

In a meeting on Thursday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and union law minister Salman Khursheed cleared the names.

“The meeting took place on Thursday and all three names were cleared without any dissent notes. There were nine names which were shortlisted earlier and in the meeting, the three names were finalised,” a high ranking government official said on conditions of anonymity.

The other two names are Vijai Sharma, former secretary of the union ministry of environment and forests and Basant Seth, chairman and managing director of Syndicate Bank.

The CIC currently has five information commissioners apart from the chief information commissioner. Although a formal announcement of the appointments is yet to be made, the CIC’s strength will now rise to nine. The CIC is reeling under cases of pendancy and the new appointments would come as a relief.

“I think the rest of the two vacancies would be filled up by civil society representatives. The entire process is likely to get over by mid-March,” the official quoted above said.