Steady rise in RTI pleas rejected by CIC
Himanshi Dhawan
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New Delhi
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Activists Say Move A Ploy To Cut Pendency
Central Information Commission (CIC) returned over 150 cases every day in November over technical defects. There has also been a steady increase in the number of appeals being rejected, from 209 in August to 4,928 in November. In December, the RTI watchdog has returned over 1,492 cases. This is a far cry from an average of 600-650 rejections earlier this year (January-April).The applications have been returned under Section 9 of the RTI Act, which says that a plea “may'' be rejected for lack of information. RTI activists have cried foul at this approach to refuse appeals and complaints saying it is eroding people's faith in the commission.
Initially, the CIC had begun returning petitions following a court order which ruled that applicants must provide photo identity cards. However, after an uproar, the commission reversed its stand and said it would not seek photo identification to register an appeal. In fact, the government even assured Parliament on this count. Despite this, the number of returned cases continues to be high.
“This calculated move to reduce pendency through a statistical approach rather than a humane one has only succeeded in eroding people's faith in the commission,'' Venkatesh Nayak of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) said.He added that the matter of returned RTI applications was discussed threadbare when the activist, along with members from the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI), met the chief information commissioner in November. “We had pointed out that huge expenditure was incurred in returning applications and suggested that the defects may be corrected at the hearing stage,'' Nayak said.
Activist Commodore (retd) Lokesh Batra said he had sought a “defect list'' from the CIC. “The commission can just inform the applicant if one or two documents are not there. It is unfair to reject the whole application,'' he said.
According to government data, 1.54 lakh RTI applications were pending with various public authorities as on September 30.This year, 376,435 applications were received of which 25,792 were rejected.
In 2012-13, 886,681 RTI applications were received by various public authorities of which, 62,231 were rejected while in 2013-14, 962,630 applications were received of which 60,127 were rejected.In 2014-15, 845,032 were received with 63,351 of them being rejected.
Initially, the CIC had begun returning petitions following a court order which ruled that applicants must provide photo identity cards. However, after an uproar, the commission reversed its stand and said it would not seek photo identification to register an appeal. In fact, the government even assured Parliament on this count. Despite this, the number of returned cases continues to be high.
“This calculated move to reduce pendency through a statistical approach rather than a humane one has only succeeded in eroding people's faith in the commission,'' Venkatesh Nayak of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) said.He added that the matter of returned RTI applications was discussed threadbare when the activist, along with members from the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI), met the chief information commissioner in November. “We had pointed out that huge expenditure was incurred in returning applications and suggested that the defects may be corrected at the hearing stage,'' Nayak said.
Activist Commodore (retd) Lokesh Batra said he had sought a “defect list'' from the CIC. “The commission can just inform the applicant if one or two documents are not there. It is unfair to reject the whole application,'' he said.
According to government data, 1.54 lakh RTI applications were pending with various public authorities as on September 30.This year, 376,435 applications were received of which 25,792 were rejected.
In 2012-13, 886,681 RTI applications were received by various public authorities of which, 62,231 were rejected while in 2013-14, 962,630 applications were received of which 60,127 were rejected.In 2014-15, 845,032 were received with 63,351 of them being rejected.
Source: Times of India, 29-12-2015
