Chief Information Commissioner, 8 new information commissioners take charge

Raj Kumar Goyal today assumed office of Chief information Commissioner (CEC) along with eight new Information Commissioners, including Surendra Singh Meena, Ashutosh Chaturvedi, Swagat Das, Sudha Rani Relangi, P R Ramesh, Khushwant Singh Sethi, Jaya Varma Sinha and Sanjeev Kumar Jindal.

With two incumbent Information Commissioners -  Anandi Ramalingam and Vinod Kumar Tiwari – the total number of Information Commissioners now stand at ten.

Surendra Singh Meena, a 1993 Jharkhand cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, held varuious positions at the central and state level and has wide knowledge on policy making, legislation and implementation of various welfare schemes.

Ashutosh Chaturvedi, a renowned journalist, has been associated with various newspapers like Ranchi-based Prabhat Khabar, Amar Ujala and BBC World Service.

Swagat Das, a 1987 batch Chandigarh cadre Indian Police Service officer, has seved in various capacities, including Secretary (Security) in the Cabinet Secretariat and Special Secretary, ministry of home affairs and has wide experience in handling crisis management, intelligence, law and order management and police administration.

Sudha Rani Relangi, an Indian Legal Service Officer, who retired as Joint Secretary in the ministry of law and justice, had served as Legislative Counsel in the ministry of law and justice and as Director of Prosecution in the Central Bureau of Investigation. She was also involved in the drafting of various legislation, including RTI Act, 2005.

P R Ramesh, a senior journalist, had been associated with the  Open magazine after serving as   editor in the Political Bureau in ‘The Economic Times’.

Khushwant Singh Sethi, a 1990 batch Tripura cadre Indian Forest Service Officer, served as Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force and Principal Secretary, Forests. He has long experience in policy formulation, programme implementation and public outreach in forestry, biodiversity, wildlife, and pollution control.

Jaya Varma Sinha, a 1988 cadre Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) officer and a former  Chairman and CEO of Railway Board, had served in various capacities in the Railways, including  administrative, financial and technical matters as also policy formulation related to traffic commercial and transportation.

Sanjeev Kumar Jindal, a 1989 batch Central Secretariat Service (CSS) officer, had served as  Additional Secretary in the ministry of home affairs. He has vast experience in areas like disaster management, financial services, economic affairs; food and public distribution, industry policy and promotion (DoPT).