Context: The ‘Report Card on the Performance of Information Commissions in India, 2022-23’ has been released.

• The report has been compiled based on the performance of Information Commissions across the country and on information accessed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by the Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), a citizens’ group working to promote transparency and accountability in governance.

• More than three lakh appeals and complaints are pending in 27 State Information Commissions across the country, according to the report of Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), a citizens’ group working to promote transparency and accountability in governance.

Key findings of the report

• Period: The analysis of the criteria was from a period between July 2022 and June 2023.

• Defunct ICs: Showed that Information Commissions are "completely defunct" in Jharkhand (37 months), Tripura (27 months), Telangana (7 months) and Mizoram (ten days).

Headless states: The CIC and Information Commissions in five states;

• Manipur (56 months),

• Chhattisgarh (since December 2022),

• Maharashtra (since April),

• Bihar (since May) and

• Punjab (since September)

Pendency of Cases: West Bengal with a pendency of 11,871 cases would take around 24 years and one month to dispose of an appeal filed on July 1 this year.

• Uttar Pradesh which has 27,163 pending cases may take seven months to clear an appeal and

• Karnataka with 41,047 pending cases may take one year and 11 months.

• Maharashtra with the highest pendency of 11 lakh cases may take four years.

• Reasons: One of the primary reasons for the backlogs is the failure of central and state governments to take timely action to appoint information commissions to the Central Information Commission and state information commissions.

• Penalties: The report also noted that Information Commissions did not impose penalties in 91 per cent of the cases where penalties were potentially imposable.

• In terms of penalty imposition, of the 23 commissions which provided relevant information, penalty was imposed in a total of 8,074 cases.

• Penalty amounting to Rs.15.37 crore was imposed by 23 commissions during the period under review.

• State-wise Appeals and Complaints: The SIC of Karnataka registered 30,207 appeals and complaints, while Uttar Pradesh registered 29,637 and the CIC registered 20,083 appeals/complaints.

About Information Commissions (ICs)

• CIC is a statutory body constituted under section 12 of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

• Similar to CIC, SIC is also a statutory body constituted under section 15 of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

• The Central Information Commission shall consist of the Chief Information Commissioner and such number of Central Information Commissioners not exceeding 10 as may be deemed necessary.

• Note: CIC consists of a Chief Information Commissioner and not more than ten Information Commissioners. Where as SIC consists of a State Chief Information Commissioner and not more than ten State Information Commissioners.

What does Information Commission do?

The main objectives of CIC and SIC are:

• To exercise the powers conferred on them under the RTI Act, 2005.

• To receive and inquire into complaints from any citizen (Section 18 of the RTI Act, 2005).

• To receive and decide upon the second appeal from any citizen (Section 19 of the RTI Act, 2005).

• To perform the duty of “Monitoring and Reporting "(Section 25 of the RTI Act, 2005).

Road Ahead

• Constitutional Status to CIC and ICs needs to be given to function in an autonomous way. Centre for Law & Democracy classifies RTI among the top 5 laws in the world and right to Question is a hallmark of democracy. Hence, disclosure should be the norm and holding back should be an exception.