No move yet to appoint new chief information commissioner in Karnataka

The post of the state chief information commissioner (CIC) is lying vacant for the past two months. Officials said they were yet to receive applications to the replace KK Mishra, who had retired as the CIC on July 10.RTI activists said the government was not following the procedures set to appoint the CIC. It had not even notified the vacancy.The Janaspandan wing of the department of personnel and administrative reforms said it had not received any communication from its principal secretary regarding the appointment of the new CIC. RTI applications seeking the status of the new CIC, have been forwarded to the chief minister’s office, the information officer of the department said. The appointment of Mishra had earlier come in for criticism. The RTI activists had alleged that his appointment lacked transparency. They expressed fear that the same might repeat.Meanwhile, about 11,000 RTI applications were before the state information commission till June-end. Though the commission has been short-staffed, more applications were being filed.KIC officials admitted that it was impossible to reply to all applicants in a month’s time. An official said replies to some applications have been pending for more than six months.