2 Jun 2015-New CIC Appointed-Hindustan Times

2 Jun 2015 Hindustan Times (Delhi)Information, vigilance commissions get chiefsNEW DELHI: Former IAS officer Vijai Sharma will be the next chief information commissioner, and adviser to SIT on black money KV Chowdary the central vigilance commissioner, the government decided Monday.The move comes more than eight months after the information and anti-corruption watchdogs were left without a chief, with the delay prompting criticism of the government. Sharma is the senior-most among the seven information commissioners.The names, yet to be announced, were cleared by panels headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of which Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge is also a member.A 1978-batch retired Indian Revenue Service officer, Chowdary was appointed as special investigation teams adviser in October after he stepped down as the chairman of the central board of direct taxes.Chowdary has headed several high-profile tax probes, including the 2G spectrum allocation case.See page 12 Kharge is learnt to have backed the appointment of Sharma, who was entitled to be named the CIC according to the seniority principle adopted by the UPA government.The Modi government, however, decided to widen the net for the CICs selection and started the process to invite applications afresh. Government sources had indicated in 2014 that there was reluctance to promote Sharma, who retired as environment secretary, as he was perceived to be close to the Congress. His wife, Rita Sharma, worked as secretary of the now-defunct national advisory council headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.Sharma, along with two other commissioners, had ruled in March that they could not act against political parties which did not implement its decision treating them as public authorities under the RTI act. At the CVC, there could be some awkward moments for the lone vigilance commissioner Rajiv, who is three batches senior to Chowdary. Rajiv had been acting as CVC.Kharge, who represented the Opposition at the two selection committee meetings, said the recommendations were being sent to Rashtrapati Bhavan for formal appointment orders. President Pranab Mukherjee is on a five-day state visit to Sweden and Belarus. Kharge was quick to credit Sonia Gandhi for flagging the vacancies, forcing the government to fill them.