Maharashtra tops the list of pending RTI appeals
It’s ironic that every few years, in a state that prides itself on implementing the transparency act before the central Right to Information (RTI) Act came into existence, it faces imminent death due to neglect. Incidentally, a month before its 13th anniversary, the state information commission has its highest-ever pendency.
At last count in August 2017, around 41,682 (39,184 second appeals and 2,498 complaints) were pending, almost double from over five years ago when 23,921 was considered to be the lowest in years as there were only four commissioners. In contrast, there are seven commissioners.
However, except for the Brihanmumbai bench, all benches have pending second appeals that are more than 1,000 with the Nashik bench having a maximum pending appeals at over 10,000 as on August 2017. The Brihanmumbai bench, which has the lowest, had 626 second appeals pending in August 2017. Three benches that have new appointments since January have almost the same pending appeals as they were before they joined. These are Nashik, Nagpur and Amravati. There has been no drastic change in the number of pending second appeals, considering that it has been over six months. At the three places, the pending remains more or less the same. …read more