The TMC government in West Bengal on Wednesday cleared the appointment of Sanchita Kumar, a retired IRS officer and wife of DGP Rajeev Kumar, and former MP from Purulia Mriganko Mahato as members of the State Information Commission.

The names of the two new members of the Commission were finalised at the selection committee meeting attended by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sovondeb Chatterjee. Leader of Opposition in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, who is the third member of the panel, however, skipped the meeting.

The appointment process, mandated by the Right to Information Act 2005, requires a committee comprising the chief minister, the Leader of Opposition (LoP), and a minister nominated by the chief minister.

“Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had informed earlier that he would not be attending the selection meeting,” said an official.

In 2023, the government had appointed Virendra as Chief Information Commissioner for a five-year term.

According to sources in the state secretariat, 10 names were shortlisted for the two posts. “All the 10 names were discussed at the selection committee meeting. Finally, two names were finalised — Sanchita Kumar and Mriganka Mahato,” an official said.

Sanchita Kumar, a 1990-batch IRS officer, took VRS a few years ago. She was Income Tax Commissioner before quitting services. Sources in the administrative department said that Sanchita Kumar took VRS in 2019 after CBI had reached her husband Rajeev Kumar’s residence in Kolkata in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam probe. Kumar, then Kolkata Police chief, was being probed by the CBI for allegedly tampering with and destroying evidence and conniving with the accused as chief of STF, which was earlier probing the chit fund scam.

West Bengal is among the earliest states to establish an Information Commission following the enactment of the Right to Information Act, 2005.