On 19th year, RTI reels under vacant positions amid uptick in complaints

A year after the Supreme Court directed the Central and the state governments to take immediate steps to fill the vacancies in the Central Information Commission (CIC) and state information commissions (SICs), the transparency watchdog is functioning with reduced capacity, leading to inordinate delays in resolving RTI cases and backlog of complaints.

- PREETHA NAIR @ New Delhi

According to figures presented by civil society group Satark Nagrik Sangathan, spearheaded by RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj, there are over four lakh cases pending across 29 information commissions nationwide as of June 30. Incidentally, the Right to Information (RTI) Act marked its 19th anniversary this month.

At present, eight positions of information commissioners are vacant in the panel.

Under the RTI Act, the CIC shall consist of the Chief Information Commissioner and such number of Central Information Commissioners not exceeding 10 as may be deemed necessary. The same holds true for State Information Commissions (SIC). Currently, the CIC is staffed with only the chief information commissioner and two ICs.