'Headless' Central Information Commission; UPSC’s Vacancy Outreach

As one walks down the Hill along the Rajpath, now renamed Kartavya Path, come other edifices — Rail Bhavan, Krishi Bhavan, and Shashtri Bhavan on one side and Sena Bhavan, Udyog Bhavan, and Vanijya Bhavan on the other. The bureaucrats who adorn the offices in these buildings decide India's economic, social, and industrial policies. There are many tales to be told from the corridors of these grandiose buildings. We let you in on some of them here.

Transparency Panel About To Go Headless

The country's transparency watchdog, Central Information Commission (CIC), is set to become headless from September 14, once incumbent Chief Information Commissioner Heeralal Samariya retires, unless the government finds his replacement soon.

Samariya assumed office on November 6, 2023, nearly a month after the top post of the transparency panel fell vacant, after Y K Sinha’s term ended on October 3, 2023.

Samariya's appointment came after the Supreme Court had, on October 30, asked the Centre and state governments to take steps to fill the post, saying the 2005 law on Right To Information (RTI) would otherwise become a “dead letter”.

The Centre, on May 21, 2025, invited applications for the post of the Chief Information Commissioner in the transparency watchdog, CIC. Under a chief, the CIC — mandated to decide appeals and complaints under the RTI Act — can have a maximum of 10 information commissioners (ICs).

Currently, there are only two — Anandi Ramalingam and Vinod Kumar Tiwari — in service. Eight IC posts have remained vacant for almost a year, after the Centre solicited applications to fill the vacancies. 

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the administrative department, had invited applications for the posts in August 2024, against which it has received 161 applications. But there has been no movement in appointing the ICs for nearly a year now.

You Didn't Know, But 4 IAS Officers Held Additional Charge As FSSAI Chairperson Since 2021

In an unprecedented move, the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), in a single consolidated order, has said that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved ex-post facto assignment of additional charge as Chairperson, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to four senior IAS officers, over different time periods. That means these officers have been assigned the position in the past, for the record.

According to a senior official, this is the first occasion when such a combined order has been issued, covering multiple officers and their respective tenures.

As per the details of the order, IAS officers holding additional charge of FSSAI Chairperson include Rajesh Bhushan (IAS:1987:Bihar), who has served as Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, and has now been assigned the additional charge from November 28, 2021, to July 31, 2023. He is followed by Sudhansh Pant (IAS:1991:Rajasthan), who was Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, and will now hold additional charge from August 1, 2023, to December 30, 2023, just for the books.

Next comes Apurva Chandra (IAS:1988:Maharashtra), who was Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, and will be holding the additional charge from December 31, 2023, to September 30, 2024. Finally, Punya Salila Srivastava (IAS:1993:AGMUT), who is currently serving as Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, will hold the additional charge from October 1, 2024, to July 31, 2025.

In the same order, the ACC has also extended Srivastava's tenure as Chairperson, FSSAI (additional charge), for a further period of six months, starting August 1, 2025.

That means Srivastava alone will spend some time on the chair for which she is responsible, according to the record books. Thank heavens for small mercies.

UPSC’s Vacancy Outreach To Educational, Professional Institutions

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), as part of its outreach initiative, has come up with a facility to enable educational and professional institutions to receive direct email alerts about its recruitment advertisements that are relevant to their domains. 

From time to time, the UPSC undertakes recruitment processes for various Group A and Group B gazetted posts in ministries and departments of the Central Government and Union Territories, in addition to conducting regular examinations. 

According to a senior UPSC official, depending on the nature of duties, these recruitments require essential educational and experience criteria. In many cases, other desirable qualifications are also advertised.

Talking about the initiative, Ajay Kumar, Chairman, UPSC, said, “Apart from our regular examinations, UPSC receives recruitment requests from various ministries and departments, for various government positions. To streamline and expedite the process, we are ensuring that the requests are received well in advance within a three-month window, from January to March, so that the process is planned in a better manner by clubbing similar recruitment cases and holding their common tests to complete the recruitment drive in a time-bound manner”.

On average, the UPSC receives over 200 recruitment proposals annually. As of now, it advertises its vacancy notices through Employment News, its official website, and its LinkedIn account. 

“In the past, some disparities were observed in the number of applications we received for different posts. During scrutiny, it has sometimes happened that we can't find a suitable applicant, one who meets the Recruitment Rules criteria. Also, some advertisements receive few applications. The posts remain vacant, as suitable candidates are not found by the interview board," Kumar said.

“To address these issues and reach out to the needy, eligible and qualified candidates, we are rolling out new outreach measures for our recruitment advertisements, whereby, among other things, we plan to send email alerts/updates to relevant institutions and organisations. These alerts would also be made available to other institutions, too, as required,” he said, adding that email alerts would be sent to universities, institutions, associations, professional and recognised bodies. 

States Propose, Centre Disposes: Top Babus Denied Extensions

It is well known that both the Union and state governments have to be on the same page to get senior bureaucrats holding top administrative positions in states to relocate. Of late, several instances were noticed where states proposed, but the Centre disposed. 

Among the latest such cases was the Centre denying the Jharkhand government's request for extending the service of its Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag Gupta, a 1990-batch IPS officer.

Although the Centre told the state government that the officer should retire on his due date of April 30, the Jharkhand government continued with Gupta as the DGP. The matter is now in the Supreme Court.

Even the UP government and the Centre have faced off recently. Sources said the UP government had proposed a one-year extension for former Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh, an IAS officer of the 1988 batch, beyond his date of superannuation — July 31. The Centre denied this proposal, forcing the state government to choose the senior-most IAS officer in the state cadre, S P Goyal, as his successor. 

The UP government had also faced a similar situation when its DGP Prashant Kumar, an IPS officer of the 1990 batch, was scheduled to retire on May 31. When the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the cadre-controlling authority for IPS officers, declined the state's proposal, the state government settled for Rajeev Krishna, a 1991-batch IPS officer, as acting DGP.

Most recently, the Bihar government's request to extend the services of incumbent Chief Secretary Amrit Lal Meena, was turned down, as a result of which Meena will retire on August 31. Left with no choice, the state government has now appointed 1991-batch IAS officer Pratyaya Amrit as Officer on Special Duty (OSD), who will take over from Meena as Chief Secretary from September 1.