Chennai: A controversy erupted in the Tamil Nadu Information Commission on Monday after Atulya Misra, a former IAS officer, was named as the in-charge chief information commissioner, bypassing the seniormost commissioner VPR Ilamparithi. The development came on the day four of the nine information commissioners retired.
Retirement of Four Commissioners
The Tamil Nadu Information Commission had nine members until Monday, when four of them — chief information commissioner Md Shakeel Akhter, and commissioners Thirumalaimuthu, P Thamaraikannan, and R Priyakumar — attained superannuation as their three-year term ended.
Seniority List Controversy
By an order dated June 12, the commission registrar V P Nagajothi placed retired IAS officer Atulya Misra at the top of the seniority list, even though he was appointed as information commissioner only in February 2026, just ahead of the model code of conduct coming into force. Ilamparithi, however, was appointed in June 2025. This move has sparked unrest among existing commissioners.
As Atulya Misra is on leave till June 28, the in-charge chief information commissioner position has been given to retired IPS officer Abhay Kumar Singh, who was also inducted into the commission only in February by the DMK government.
Process to Appoint New Commissioners
Sources said the state government has initiated the process to appoint new information commissioners, and a search committee will be formed soon. However, there is unrest among the existing information commissioners over the allocation of additional charges of CIC to Atulya Misra, even though he comes after Ilamparithi and M Natesan (whose tenure ends on August 4 this year) in the seniority list.
Pending Appeals and Complaints
The information commission has more than 40,000 appeals and complaints pending before them for disposal.
