Heeralal Samariya appointed as first Dalit Chief Information Commissioner

President Murmu administered the oath of office to Samairya at a function that was held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The post was lying vacant after Y K Sinha’s term came to an end on October 3. Presently, there are eight vacant positions of information commissioners

The appointment of Information Commissioners (ICs) was initiated following the Supreme Court’s directive on October 30. The apex court urged both the Central and state governments to take swift action in filling these crucial positions that were lying vacant, warning that the 2005 Right to Information law would lose its effectiveness otherwise.

The matter of unfilled vacancies in both the Central Information Commission (CIC) and state-level information commissions (SICs) was brought to the forefront by a bench presided over by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. The court also directed the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to gather essential information from all states. This data includes the sanctioned strength of information commissioners in SICs, the current number of vacancies, and the total count of pending cases.

After Samariya’s appointment as the Chief Information Commissioner, there exists a vacancy of eight Information Commissioners.

Two other information commissioners who were administered oath of office were Anandi Ramalingam and  Vinod Kumar Tiwari at the swearing-in ceremony.

Anandi Ramalingam, before joining as Information Commissioner in Central Information Commission, was holding the post of Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Electronics Ltd. (MoD, GOI). She holds BE(Hons) in Electronics & Communication Engineering. She also has experience in the field of procurement, conceptualization, design and development and production of equipment, technical matters, coordination with different authorities and RTI matters. Her area of expertise includes Administration and Governance.

Vinod Kumar Tiwari, was an Indian Forest Service Officer, before joining as Information Commissioner in Central Information Commission. He was holding the post of Head of Force-cum-Principal Chief Conservator of Forests as Head of Himachal Pradesh Forest Department, Shimla. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Science and a Master’s degree in Geology. His area of expertise includes Administration and Governance.