india

Updated: May 23, 2015 11:35 IST

Nearly 10 months after the top post in two key watchdogs became vacant, the Prime Minister-headed selection committee will meet on Saturday to select the chief information commissioner (CIC) and the central vigilance commissioner (CVC).

While the post of the CIC has been vacant since August last year, that of the CVC has been vacant since September 2014.

Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge will attend the crucial meeting that comes days after his party chief Sonia Gandhi flagged the issue by moving an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha during the budget session.

She had then attacked the Narendra Modi-led government for its “blatant U-turn” on the promise of transparency and good governance, citing several vacancies in the CIC — the final arbiter of RTI requests.

Referring to 39,000 cases pending before the commission, Gandhi also took on the government for nibbling away at the CIC’s authority by giving its financial powers to a bureaucrat.

On Thursday, the Delhi high court had reserved its order on a plea seeking directions for the Centre to appoint CIC and three information commissioners.

Additional solicitor general Sanjay Jain told the court that the candidates for the posts of CIC and information commissioners have been shortlisted and granted vigilance clearance.

As per the Right to Information Act, the central information commission has one chief and ten information commissioners out of which three are vacant.

The central vigilance commission is headed by a chief vigilance commissioner and has two vigilance commissioners. Rajiv, a former director general of Central Industrial Security Force, is acting as its interim chief.