Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha Appointed As Chief Information Commissioner [Read Notification]

The President of India has appointed Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha as the Chief Information Commissioner.

The appointment is with effect from the forenoon of 7th November, 2020. The President has also appointed Heeralal Samariya as the Information Commissioner. 

The President of India administered the oath of office to Shri Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha as Chief Information Commissioner at 10.00 a.m. today at at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The appointment is on the recommendations of the committee constituted under sub-section (3) of section 12 of the Right to Information Act, 2005. This committee consists of (i) the Prime Minister, who shall be the Chairperson of the committee; (ii) the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha; and (iii) a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister. The CIC post had felt vacant after former CIC Bimal Julka retired on 26th August 2020.

Sinha, before he was appointed as Information Commissioner, has served as High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka. He had also served as Additional Secretary,(Pakistan,Afghanistan, Iran), MEA, New Delhi.  He was sworn in as Central Information Commissioner on January 1, 2019.

Heeralal Samariya, who is now appointed as Information Commission, served as Secretary (Ministry of Labour & Employment).

Last month, an application for urgent hearing was filed in the plea before the Supreme Court which seeks for timely and transparent appointment of Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission under the Right to Information Act, 2005. Activist Anjali Bhardwaj, had highlighted that six posts, including that of the Chief Information Commissioner, remained vacant as of 15th October, 2020.

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