Information Commission finally gets 2 new commissioners

The government has appointed an academic and a retired public servant as commissioners to the Information Commission two and a half months after the posts fell vacant.

Nepal Chandra Sarkar, who served as the first secretary to the Commission when it was formed in 2009 and retired as an additional secretary to the government, will replace MA Taher.

Khurshida Begum Syed, a professor of government and politics at Jahangirnagar University, is the other member appointed on Monday.

She will replace Dhaka University's Prof Sadeka Halim.

Their rank, salary, benefits and other facilities will be determined by the government.

The Information Commission is composed of a chief information commissioner (CIC) and two other information commissioners, one of them female.

The Commission is mandated to enforce the Right to Information Act and accelerate transparency and accountability in government and non-government agencies in Bangladesh.

Former ambassador Mohammed Farooq is the current CIC.

The positions fell vacant after Prof Halim and MA Taher ended their tenure in June.