Gujarat gets two new RTI commissioners

GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat State Information Commission (GSIC), which was functioning only with a chief information commissioner so far, has got two new information commissioners following the high court’s intervention.

The new information commissioners are Netra Shenoy and Arvind Shukla. They have been appointed to help out Chief Information Commissioner R.N. Das.

Shukla is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official of the 1983 batch who retired as principal secretary to the governor, while Shenoy belongs to the 1969 batch and retired as additional chief secretary, planning department.

The appointments Friday evening follow the intervention of the Gujarat High Court on a public interest litigation (PIL) last year wherein the state government was directed to finish the process of recommending names to the governor within two months.

The file of names for approval had been lying with Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The Right to Information Act was passed in 2005.

However, all three RTI officials are slated to hang their boots over the next two years following the stipulation to serve only upto 65 years of age. Shukla retires in November 2012 and Shenoy and Das in 2011.

H. Pandya, member of the Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahal(MAGP), said Saturday that there was need to appoint regional information commissioners so that people do not have to travel long distances to approach it.