New Delhi, Nov 7 (IANS): Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha took oath as the new Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) here on Saturday, a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said.
President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath to Sinha as the CIC at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan this morning.
The post was lying vacant since the retirement of Bimal Julka on August 26.
Sinha will have a tenure of about three years as the CIC. Three new Information Commissioners will be administered the oath of office later in the day by Sinha.
A former diplomat who had joined the Central Information Commission as the Information Commissioner on January 1 last year, the 62-year-old has served as India's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka.
A three-member panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, had short-listed Sinha for the post.
The panel also selected journalist Uday Mahurkar, former Labour Secretary Heera Lal Samariya and former Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General Saroj Punhani as the Information Commissioners, officials said.
All three will be administered the oath of office by Sinha later in the day, said the officials.
After induction of three new commissioners, the strength of Information Commissioners in the Commission will rise to seven, as against a sanctioned strength of 10.
Vanaja N Sarna, Neeraj Kumar Gupta, Suresh Chandra, and Amita Pandove are presently working as Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission.
A graduate from Gujarat's Maharaja Sayajirao University in Indian history, culture and archaeology, Mahurkar has worked as Senior Deputy Editor with a leading media house.
A 1985-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Telangana cadre, Samariya retired as Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Employment in September this year.
Punhani, an Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IAAS) officer of the 1984 batch, served as the Deputy CAG in the central government.