Centre Refuses To Disclose Pending RTI Numbers, Says ‘Pendency Reduced’

As the Parliament Winter Session progresses, when questions over the 3 lakh pending appeals in the court has been raised, the Central government replied that pending has immensely reduced.

To Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP A. D. Singh”s question over 3 lakh appeals pending with the Information Commissions in the country under RTI Act, Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions said that concerned data regarding pending appeals lies with the State Information Commissions. “. . . as far as Central Information Commission is concerned, pendency has drastically reduced after the disposal rate has increased manifold in the last 9 years,” Minister argued.

With regarding speedy disposal of pending appeals, Minister points that the government has taken a number of steps including capacity building of Public Information Officers and First Appellate Authorities in which they are equipped to effectively supply information/dispose off first appeal, thereby reaching lesser number of appeals before the Central Information Commission. Besides, the government from time to time gave instructions to the Public authorities “to maximise proactive public disclosure” to prevent RTI applications filing by the citizens. Furthermore, he added that the Central Information Commission has introduced several initiatives such as use of technological tools, hearing in hybird mode for proper hearing of cases, digitization of its records, one click information window and many others for the benefit of the RTI applicants.

It was in October this year, Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), a voluntary organisation released a report card on the performance of the Information Commissions (IC) in India for 2022-23. As per its findings over 3.2 lakh appeals and complaints under the Right to Information Act were pending in 27 ICs.