Bimal Julka appointed CIC

Information Commissioner Bimal Julka was appointed as the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) on Friday, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique. President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of office to Julka as the CIC in the Central Information Commission at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, it said. The transparency watchdog has been functioning without a chief after Sudhir Bhargava retired on January 11. It is working with a reduced strength of six information commissioners, against the sanctioned strength of 11 (including the CIC).

There is a vacancy of five more information commissioners at the commission after Julka's appointment as the CIC. A selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last month recommended the name of Julka, a former information and broadcasting secretary, to the post.

According to rules, the CIC is appointed by the president on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the prime minister as its head, the leader of opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha and a Union cabinet minister to be nominated by the PM..