1,87,974 RTI cases still pending: Study

Assam has highest pendency followed by Odisha and Punjab

GN Bureau | November 12, 2016


#Transparency   #governance   #RTI   #RTI Act   #cabinet secretariat   #CIC   #Right to Information  


As many as 1,87,974 right to information (RTI) cases in the 16 information commissions were pending till December 2015, reveals a study. While there is a logjam in the disposal of appeals and complaints, more than 60 percent of the information commissions’ orders were examined to have skipped recording the critical facts.

The study was conducted by Research, Assessment & Analysis Group (RaaG) along with Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS).
Here are the outcomes of the study:

The pendency in the Assam SIC is 240%, Odisha and Punjab is 60%, Kerala is 49%, and CIC is 43%.

Waiting time for a hearing was more than one year in nine out of 16 ICs (for which data was available for 2016).

The penalty to be imposed on the PIOs for the violations of RTI Act in only 1.3% of the cases in which it was not imposable.
State commissions’ websites of Goa and Jharkhand were not accessible at all

In 2014 and 2015, eight of the 26 IC websites were reported to have not arranged for information on appeals.

10 of 26 SIC websites accessed did not provide information on the number of appeals/complaints pending at the end of 2014 or 2015.
21 out of 28 ICs did not provide the annual report for 2015.

Read the full report here

 

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