25,000 RTI pleas stuck at second appeal stage: CM

Times of India: Mumbai: Tuesday, 29 December 2015.

There are nearly 25,000 Right to Information (RTI) applications pending at the second appeal stage with different information commissioners in the state.

Chief minister Deven-dra Fadnavis said that th-ere were as many as 24,890 applications that were pending in the second appeal stage till August. This information was given by him to the legislative council on a question asked by NCP MLC Jaidev Gaikwad during the winter session, which concluded recently.

Activists say that one of reason for the high pendency is the huge number of vacant posts in the office of the information commissioners. Also, of the seven posts for divisional commissioners in the state, two posts are vacant. Posts of information commissioner of Nashik and Aurangabad too are lying vacant, which is adding to the pendency.

"The government is trying to fill up the vacant posts," Fadnavis said in a written reply to the legislative council.

RTI activists in the state say that the government's lack of interest in clearing bottlenecks within the system to ensure that applications move smoothly shows its attitude towards the citizen-empowering Act. Officials said that the number of applications they receive is increasing every year due to awareness but the amount of resources like office staff typist and stenographers hasn't increased and this is mounting pressure on the existing staff, leading to delays.

"On an average, 15-20% of the staff posts are vacant. This adds pressure on the existing staff and causes delays. The government has been dragging its feet on filling up the vacancies, which is increasing the pendency," said an official.

Officials also said that some cases have been pending since one to two years and they have not yet been heard.

But they believe that the pendency in urban areas will come down soon. "The government is trying to put out more and more information online. The number of RTI applications will reduce as information will be readily available without having to ask for it," said an official.