PolityPrelimsGS4

RTI report card: 3.85 lakh cases pending in 28 information commissions

By CAShorts DeskPublished 13 October 2026, 12:53 am ISTSource: The Hindu; RTI Act, 2005 (CIC); RTI (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (PRS)

Over 3.85 lakh appeals and complaints were pending in 28 information commissions on 30 June 2026, says Satark Nagrik Sangathan's annual report card for 2025-26. Fourteen commissions would take a year or more to settle a case. The report estimates a wait of two years and three months at the Central Information Commission.

Syllabus: Prelims · Polity & Governance; GS4 · Probity in Governance; GS2 · Statutory & Regulatory Bodies

Why this matters for UPSC

GS2 (statutory bodies; transparency and accountability) and GS4 (Right to Information). Prelims can ask how the Central Information Commission is appointed, the appeal timelines and penalties of the RTI Act, 2005; Mains, about vacancies and the 2019 amendment.

Why it matters

A citizen who asks a ration office, a university or a ministry for records and is refused has one real remedy: an appeal to an information commission. If that commission takes two years to hear the case, the information often stops being useful: a pension delayed, a land record disputed, a welfare list kept hidden. Officials who know a penalty is years away have less reason to answer on time. Where a commission is defunct, as in Himachal Pradesh, or has stopped registering cases, as in Jharkhand, the law works only up to the first appeal. The larger issue is whether transparency bodies stay independent and adequately staffed, since the 2019 amendment gave the Centre control over commissioners' terms and pay.

Prelims pointers

Section 12, RTI Act, 2005: Central Information Commission of a Chief Information Commissioner and up to ten Information Commissioners; headquarters at Delhi.
CIC appointment: by the President on a committee of the Prime Minister (chair), the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister the PM nominates.
Section 15: each State Information Commission is appointed by the Governor on a committee of the Chief Minister, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly and a minister.
Removal: by the President (CIC) or the Governor (SIC) for proved misbehaviour or incapacity, after a Supreme Court inquiry on a reference.
Section 19: first appeal within 30 days to a senior officer; second appeal within 90 days to the commission; the onus of justifying a denial lies on the officer.
Section 20: penalty of Rs 250 a day, capped at Rs 25,000, on the Public Information Officer; persistent default draws a recommendation for disciplinary action.
Section 18: while inquiring into a complaint, a commission has a civil court's powers under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
Right to Information (Amendment) Act, 2019: terms, salaries and service conditions of central and State commissioners are now prescribed by the Central Government.

Practise a UPSC-style question

With reference to the Report Card on the Performance of Information Commissions in India, consider the following statements:

1. It is published by the Central Information Commission under its statutory reporting duty.

2. Under the RTI Act, 2005, each information commission prepares a report on the Act's implementation after each year and forwards it to the appropriate Government.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Show the answer

Answer: (b) 2 only

1 is incorrect: the Report Card is published by Satark Nagrik Sangathan, a non-government organisation, not by the Central Information Commission. 2 is correct: Section 25(1) of the RTI Act, 2005 requires each commission, as soon as practicable after the end of each year, to prepare a report on the Act's implementation and forward it to the appropriate Government, which may have it laid before Parliament or the State Legislature under Section 25(4).

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