The Central government has formally appointed Information Commissioner Heeralal Samariya as the chief of the Central Information Commission (CIC). President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Samariya, making him the first Dalit to hold the highly esteemed position.

Samariya, an IAS officer of the 1985 batch, took over the post following the retirement of former CIC, Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha on October 3. He was appointed as Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission on November 7, 2020.

There is still a vacancy for eight Information Commissioners following Samariya's appointment as Chief Information Commissioner. Currently, there are two Information Commissioners in the Commission, as reported by news agency PTI. 

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The Chief Information Commissioner is in head of the Commission, which has a maximum of 10 Information Commissioners.

Samaria has also served as Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, and Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Telangana. He also served as the Chairman and MD of Transmission Corporation of A.P. (TransCo). 

He was born in the remote village of Pahadi in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district. Reportedly, he holds a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering and his expertise includes administration and governance.

Samariya’s appointment comes following the Supreme Court's October 30 order to the central and the state governments to fill the post, failing which the 2005 Right to Information law will become a "dead letter."

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra directed the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to gather data from every State on a number of topics, such as the number of vacancies, sanctioned SIC strength, and pending cases overall.

The CIC is appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee that consists of the prime minister, the head of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, and a cabinet minister selected by the prime minister.