Two new Information Commissioners take oath of office today

September 23, 2009 03:36 pm | Updated 03:36 pm IST - New Delhi

A file picture of Ms. Deepak Sandhu. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty.

A file picture of Ms. Deepak Sandhu. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty.

Former media advisor to Prime Minister Deepak Sandhu and former secretary in the Union government Sushma Singh were today sworn in as new information commissioners at the Central Information Commission.

Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah administered oath of office to them.

With their inclusion, the strength of commissioners at CIC has gone up to nine, just one short of the required numbers under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

Ms. Sandhu was the principal director general of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) in the ministry of information and broadcasting before taking over as the first woman media advisor of the Prime Minister.

When asked about switching of roles from a bureaucrat to an Information Commissioner she said she had held the position of Public Information Officer, so she was very much in the thick of RTI matters.

Ms. Singh, a 1972-batch IAS officer from Jharkhand, who retired as secretary, information and broadcasting ministry, said that now a days bureaucracy is also open to disclosure of information.

“There is no divide between the Commission and the bureaucracy. Now a days officers have been asked to ensure smooth flow of information and guidelines have been issued for the same,” she said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.