Bengal to appoint 4 new information commissioners

Kolkata: The

Bengal

government has issued a notification for the appointment of four new

information commissioners

to increase the rate of case disposal at the state information commission.

The Supreme Court in August had directed eight states — Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Nagaland, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka – to fill up vacancies in the commissions within six months. Nabanna started the process of appointment accordingly, an official of the PAR department said.

An official said after the retirement of former DGP, GMP Reddy, in May, the panel comprised chief information commissioner (CIC) Basudeb Banerjee and ex-IPS officer Raj Kanojia. The official added that former

CIC

Sujit Sarkar had once proposed appointing five commissioners to reduce pendency.

CIC Banerjee said the appointment of four more commissioners, as the SC had directed, would greatly help in handling cases. He said the panel had held meetings with the state government for a bigger office so that the new appointees could be accommodated, as the current one at Khadya Bhavan complex was too small. He added that due to the pandemic, the process of appointment of three commissioners, which had been initiated earlier, could not be executed.