3 Lakh RTI Pleas pile up across India

Context

The transparency regime set up by the Right to Information (RTI) Act has nearly 3.15 lakh pending complaints or appeals with 26 information commissions across India.

What is the Right to Information?

• RTI is an act of the parliament that sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens’ right to information.
• It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002.
  • The Central Information Commission was established by the Central Government in 2005, under the provisions of the Right to Information Act (2005).
• It is not a constitutional body.
• Under the provisions of RTI Act, any citizen of India may request information from a “public authority” (a body of Government or “instrumentality of State”) which is required to reply expeditiously or within 30.
• In case of a matter involving a petitioner’s life and liberty, the information has to be provided within 48 hours.
• The Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.

Functioning of Right to Information Act

• Under the RTI Act 2005, a three-tier structure has been set up for enforcing the right to information.
  • Public Information Officers: The first request for information goes to the Assistant Public Information Officer and Public Information Officer, designated by the Public Authorities.
    • They are required to provide information to an RTI applicant within 30 days of the request.
  • Appellate Authority: It caters to the appeals against decisions of the Public Information Officer.
  • State Information Commission or the Central Information Commission (CIC): They are mandated to hear appeals against the order of the Appellate Authority.
    • Information Commissions consist of a Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and up to 10 Information Commissioners (ICs).
    • While inquiring, the Commission has the powers of a civil court in respect of summoning, requiring documents, etc.

RTI Pendency in India

• As per the data obtained from several information commissions (ICs), the backlog of appeals or complaints with them is steadily increasing every year (reference period 2019-2022) resulting in a long waiting time for disposal.
• According to a report by Satark Nagrik Sangathan, the backlog of appeals or complaints is increasing in commissions every year.
• The number of appeals and complaints pending in 2021 was 2,86,325 with data from 26 commissions and in 2022, it was 3,14,323.
• States with the highest number of pending cases and appeals were Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar etc.
  • The highest number of pending cases was in Maharashtra at 99,722, followed by UP at 44,482, Karnataka at 30,358, the Central Information Commission at 26,724 and Bihar at 21,346.
• RTI cases filed till now-4.2 crore RTIs and 26 lakh second appeals with average waiting period of two years.