The last meeting of the panel held in New Dellhi on May 23 had remained inconclusive (Picture used for representational purpose)
A meeting of a panel led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been called today to decide on the chiefs of Central Information Commission (CIC) and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).
Today's meeting has been convened at the Prime Minister's residence and will be attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh, official sources have confirmed. The last meeting of the panel held in New Dellhi on May 23 had remained inconclusive.
The names for the post of information commissioners in CIC and vigilance commissioners in CVC are also likely to be finalised in today's meeting, say sources.
Earlier this month, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi had questioned the delay in appointments of chiefs of CIC, CVC and Lokpal by the Narendra Modi government.
Many RTI activists have also questioned the delay in appointments.
The CIC, which is mandated to resolve appeals and complaints filed against government departments or public authorities by information seekers under the Right to Information or RTI Act, has been working without a chief for over nine months, after the tenure of CIC Rajiv Mathur ended on August 22, 2014. Three posts of information commissioners in the CIC also lie vacant.
Sources said there are 203 applicants, including all seven information commissioners, for the post of the Chief Information Commissioner and 553 for the post of information commissioners.
Under the RTI Act, the CIC has one chief and 10 information commissioners.
In CVC, the term of Central Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar had ended on September 28 last year, while vigilance commissioner J M Garg completed his tenure on September 7.
Sources said that the government has received about 130 applications for the two posts.