RTI replies in 3 months as Brihanmumbai bench to reduce waiting period

DNA: Mumbai: Monday, 29 June 2015.

Right to Information (RTI) applicants in Mumbai have some good news. From October this year, the Brihanmumbai bench of the state information commission (SIC) plans to hear second appeals made in May-June of 2015.

This will make sure that RTI applications from city with any department will be cleared within three months at the most.

"By October 2015, we are looking to clear all pending appeals. We will be hearing appeals of June 2015 then," said Ajit Kumar Jain, information commissioner (Brihanmumbai bench).

As of May 2015, there were 2,159 second appeals pending with the bench – down by 3,000 from the time the post of the SIC was filled last year. That time, appeals of 2012, 2013 and 2014 and even some from 2011 were pending with the bench.

"Of the pending appeals, over 1,200 are from 2014 and the rest from 2015. Appeals of 2015 are being heard once a week to keep officials alert that their applications can come up at the commission anytime," said Jain.

While Jain has cleared 550 appeals in a month, which is his best monthly performance, chief information commissioner (CIC) Ratnakar Gaikwad has cleared 803 appeals, which is considered an all-India record. Gaikwad has also cleared 25,000 appeals since he has taken over as CIC.

Pending second appeals in the state has come down from over 31,000 in May last year to over 24,000 this year. At present, the Pune bench of the SIC has the maximum second appeals pending, followed by Nashik and Konkan. The Aurangabad bench, which now lies vacant after D B Deshpande's resignation, will be filled soon.

The Brihanmumbai bench has departments like home and revenue, while the headquarter bench has housing and CM's office among others. The two benches also share some departments.