RTI case disposal down by half in first half of 2015

Times of India: Chennai: Thursday, June 25, 2015.

The number of RTI appeals disposed by the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission in the first six months of this year has come down by almost half in comparison to the numbers of cases disposed in the same period last year. And this is mainly due to post of chief information commissioner falling vacant in April.

Statistics show that TNSIC cleared 2,788 appeals between January and June 2015 compared to 5,521 appeals cleared in the same period in 2014. It cleared 10,831 appeals in 2013 and 6,406 in 2012 in the first six months. Sources say the number of pending appeals is more than 15,000 but the government is yet to appoint a new chief since K S Sripathi retired as state chief information commissioner on April 26.

Under the RTI Act, a state can have 10 commissioners and a chief, but TNSIC, The commission receives an average of 60,000 applications a year, has only four commissioners Christopher Nelson, P Thamilselvan, B Neelambikai and S F Akbar.

Former central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said that if four commissioners could dispose 2,788 cases in six months, it would take at least three years to dispose the pending appeals alone. "I used to dispose 500 appeals a month when I was in the central information commission. TN government should appoint a few RTI activists as commissioners for the effective function of the commission," he said.

Venkatesh Nayak of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, an NGO, said the TN government should not delay appointment of commissioners and ensure that appeals do not pile up. He also urged the TNSIC to disclose its annual reports on the website.

When contacted, P W C Davidar, principal secretary of personnel and administrative reforms department, refused to comment about the appointment of the new chief information commissioner.

A senior TNSIC official denied the allegations. "The commissioners are disposing appeals regularly but we have not uploaded all the cases disposed on the website because of staff shortage."

An online petition, launched by RTI activists seeking appointment of an eminent chief information commissioner and information commissioners not connected with bureaucracy or politicians, has received more than 150 signatures.

Activists say the TN government has not been tabling annual reports in the assembly since 2008, claiming it is short of Tamil translators. The annual reports should declare the number of RTI applications received by PIOs, cases disposed of and fines imposed on PIOs for violations under the RTI Act.