Heeralal Samariya took oath as first Dalit Chief Information Commissioner: President Draupadi Murmu on Monday administered the oath to senior bureaucrat Heeralal Samariya as the chief of the Central Information Commission (CIC). Hiralal Samaria is the first Dalit person in the country to be made the Chief Information Commissioner. Till now he was the Information Commissioner. Samaria has also worked as Secretary in the Ministry of Labor and Employment.
The tenure of former bureaucrat YK Sinha ended on October 3. Since then the post of Chief Information Commissioner has been lying vacant. There can be 10 Information Commissioners in the Commission. All commissioners are headed by a Chief Information Commissioner.
Appointment made on the orders of the Supreme Court
Hiralal Samaria has been appointed after the Supreme Court’s order of October 30. The Supreme Court had asked the Central and State Governments to fill the vacant posts. It was warned that the Right to Information Act of 2005 would become ineffective if the vacant posts were not filled.
#WATCH | President Droupadi Murmu administers the Oath of Office to Heeralal Samariya, the Chief Information Commissioner at Rashtrapati Bhavan. pic.twitter.com/tPaDthy1qn
— ANI (@ANI) November 6, 2023
A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud had directed the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to collect information from all states on the number of authorized Information Commissioners in State Information Commissions (SIC), the total number of current vacancies, and pending.
Who is Hiralal Samaria?
Hiralal Samaria is a 1985 batch IAS officer. He is a resident of Bharatpur district of Rajasthan. He was born on 14 September 1960 in a hill village. He obtained BE (Civil) Honors degree from MNIT Jaipur Rajasthan University in the year 1982. After this, he joined the Indian Administrative Service in Telangana cadre in 1985. His son Piyush Samaria is also an IAS.
Hiralal Samaria has been Secretary and Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Labor and Employment. Apart from this, he has also been CMD of the Electricity Distribution Company Andhra Pradesh, CMD of Andhra Pradesh Transmission Corporation, and Secretary of the Irrigation Department.
