CHENNAI: The state government has constituted a search committee to shortlist the next state chief information commissioner and three information commissioners. As per a notification issued by the Human Resources Management department on July 8, retired Madras High Court judge RS Ramanthan is the chairman of the search committee.
Principal secretary of the department C Samayamoorthy and retired IAS official R Sudalaikannan have been appointed as members.
The number of commissioners disposing of appeals and complaint petitions under the Right to Information Act at the state information commission plunged to five from nine on June 15, as the three-year term of chief information commissioner MD Shakeel Akhter, information commissioners Thirumalaimuthu, P Thamaraikannan and R Priyakumar came to an end. At present, VPR Elamparithi, retired IAS officer Atulya Misra, retired IPS officer Abhay Kumar Singh, M Natesan and A Vijayaram serve as information commissioners. Natesan is set to retire on August 3.
The search committee will shortlist the candidates complying with eligibility norms and recommend them to the selection committee chaired by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, before they are formally appointed by the Governor.