Govt to appoint Yashvardhan Sinha as new CIC despite strong objections from Opposition

Govt to appoint Yashvardhan Sinha as new CIC despite strong objections from Opposition

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Friday, October 30, 2020, 03:48 PM IST
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Yashvardhan Sinha | Photo Credit: Twitter

The Central government is all set to appoint former Indian Foreign Service officer and Information Commissioner Yashvardhan Sinha as the new Chief Information Commissioner, despite strong opposition from Congress, reported NDTV.

According to a report by NDTV, Journalist Uday Mahurkar is also likely to be named as an Information Commissioner. The decision to appoint Sinha and Mahurkar came despite objections by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Opposition member in the high-powered selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The appointment comes two months after the position at the Central Information Commission fell vacant. “Yes, I have accepted the offer letter that I got,” Uday Mahurkar told The Indian Express.

As per NDTV report, Rashtrapati Bhavan is expected to issue a notification soon following which a Gazette Notification will be published by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) announcing the appointments.

As many as 139 people had applied for the post of Chief Information Commissioner and 355 for the posts of information commissioners.

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has expressed dissent over Mahurkar being shortlisted for a commissioner position although he had not been on the list of applicants. "He (Mahurkar) has been sky dropped...(He) was an open supporter of the ruling party and its ideology," Chowdhury told NDTV.

The decision was taken after an October 24 meeting of the selection panel, where Chowdhury had reportedly submitted a dissent note. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had 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.

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