Former bureaucrat appointed Jammu & Kashmir CIC

Former bureaucrat Khurshid A Ganai, who had gone on protest leave a few months before his retirement against PDP-BJP government’s decision not to take him on board on some administrative matters, was on Monday appointed as Chief Information Commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir. He replaces G R Sufi who retired as Chief Information Commissioner on February 29 last year, an official release here said, adding that he has been appointed by State Governor N N Vohra in exercise of the powers vested in him under the Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act, 2009.

Ganai had been a 1982 batch IAS officer who was in February last year appointed as Advisor to State Governor when Governor rule was imposed in the state following the death of then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

Ganai’s appointment as Chief Information Commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir shall take effect from the ate he assumes charge of the post, release added.

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The three member state information commission is, at present, defunct with posts of chief information commissioner and two information commissioners lying vacant. The Information Commissioner Dr S K Sharma had retired on October 31, 2015 and another Information Commissioner Nazir Ahmed in November last.

The State Information Commission was set up by the state government under the provisions of Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act in February 2011.