Pending cases climb to over 39,000 at CIC, wait period now at two years

Times of India: New Delhi: Thursday, 07 May 2015.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi's contention that information delayed is information denied, rings true. With over 39,000 cases pending before the Central Information Commission an applicant must wait for at least 18 months to two years before getting a hearing.

CHRI's Venkatesh Nayak said that one of his applications had been pending for the last four years in the commission while another activist R K Jain said he has about 150 cases that were slated for hearing before the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) related to the PMO, CVC and various high courts. The chief's position has been vacant for the last nine months. ``The waiting period has steadily increased in the commission. Now it would take at least two years before an applicant's appeal can be heard,'' Nayak said.

Besides the backlog is the worrying issue that there is no oversight on important public authorities like PMO, CVC and cabinet secretariat among others. Recently the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) led a protest march to Parliament on the issue arguing that there is no appellate mechanism for RTI violations by these public authorities. ``The autonomy and independence of the commission has also been adversely impacted by the absence of the chief. In fact, even the process of appointment is completely non transparent and arbitrary,'' the NCPRI said.

Activists rue the fact that a weapon of empowerment has been blunted due to sheer indifference. Ironically awareness on RTI has spread among people. According to the CIC annual report 8.3 lakh RTIs were filed in 2013-2014 with over 2,200 central public authorities with 76% compliance.

While the issue of pending cases has been brewing for some time now and not necessarily a problem created by the NDA government, the absence of a chief in the CIC has hurt the organization. The CIC is unable to take any administrative decisions and more importantly any decisions taken by the commission can be challenged by a court because of a lacuna in the RTI Act.