PM-Advani meeting to decide new CIC postponed

The appointment of a new chief information commissioner has been deferred as the scheduled meeting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Leader of Opposition L K Advani has been postponed.

Official sources said the meeting of the three-member committee comprising the Prime Minister, Advani and Law Minister Veerappa Moily has been postponed without citing any reasons and no new date has been given.

The selection of the new CIC was necessitated as the present incumbent Wajahat Habibullah tendered his resignation recently.

Habibullah will be serving as the first State Information Commissioner in Jammu and Kashmir, where the state government has recently constituted the Commission. He was to take the oath of his new office on Monday but could not do so as he was asked by the government to continue till his successor is decided.

As per the law, the charge of the CIC cannot be handed over to any other person on ad hoc basis. Even if Habibullah wishes to do so, the new person's name needs to be ratified by the three-member committee.