G R Sofi to be Appointed as J&K’s Information Commissioner

Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah and leader of the opposition Mehbooba Mufti decided on 27 January 2011 to appoint G R Sofi, 1976 batch IRS officer as the Information Commissioner. Income-Tax Commissioner of Amritsar, Sofi was chosen to head the Right to Information office created in October 2009.

TheJ&K government had first chosen Wajahat Hajibullah in October 2009 as the Information Commissioner. Hajibullah who was then Central Information Commissioner withdrew five months after accepting the offer because the Centre wanted him to continue as CIC. Ever since the absence of information commissioner had obstructed activists and citizens from using the RTI, a law that has had transformative effect on democratisation of access to information across the country.