After 7 Years, CIC to be at Full Strength

After nearly seven years of operating with a reduced capacity, the Central Information Commission (CIC) is set to reach its full strength. This development comes after the selection of former Law and Justice Secretary Raj Kumar Goyal as the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). In addition to the CIC, eight new Information Commissioners have been appointed, including Jaya Varma Sinha, former Railway Board chairperson, and legal expert Sudha Rani Relangi. With these appointments, the commission, which can have up to ten commissioners in addition to the CIC, will operate at its full capacity for the first time in almost seven years.

The selection committee, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, convened on Wednesday to finalize the appointments of the new CIC, the eight ICs, and a vigilance commissioner. Home Minister Amit Shah was also present at the meeting.

The appointment of the new Information Commissioners will also increase the number of women in the panel to three, the highest in recent years. The newly appointed Information Commissioners include Khushwant Singh Sethi, a former Indian Forest Service officer; Swagat Das, a former IPS officer; senior journalist P R Ramesh; Surendra Singh Meena; Ashutosh Chaturvedi; and Sanjeev Kumar Jindal.

The CIC's top position became available after Heeralal Samariya's term ended on September 13. The commission had been functioning with only two Information Commissioners, Anandi Ramalingam and Vinod Kumar Tiwari, since November 2023 when the eight IC posts became vacant.

Established on October 12, 2005, under the Right to Information Act, 2005, the Central Information Commission (CIC) holds jurisdiction over all Central Public Authorities. The Commission is responsible for upholding the Right to Information Act, 2005, and has certain powers and functions outlined in sections 18, 19, 20, and 25 of the Act.

In other news, the Credit Information Corporation (CIC), the country's sole public credit registry, received its ISO 9001:2015 recertification on August 7, 2025, marking its fifth consecutive year of compliance with international quality management standards. The CIC also participated in the 2025 Government Job Fair and supports the rollout of Google Pay PH to promote secure digital payments.