October 12th marks the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, the landmark law empowering citizens to access official information. However, this decadal milestone arrives at a time when the law is confronting severe existential and functional challenges.
One of the most immediate dangers to the law’s effectiveness is the government’s perceived non-serious approach to implementation, evident in the large number of vacancies in key information commissions.
Crisis at the Central Information Commission (CIC)
The Central Information Commission (CIC), which handles appeals against central government bodies, is facing a severe staffing crisis:
- Eight out of ten posts for Information Commissioners are currently vacant.
- The Supreme Court was compelled to step in, asking the Central government in September to expedite the process of filling these vacancies, which were advertised in August 2024.
- The backlog at the CIC is staggering, with close to 30,000 appeals pending.
- It now takes at least a year for an appeal to be heard for the first time, and the average time for disposal is two to three years, a significant increase from the less than a year it took before 2014.
Commissions Across India Paralysed
The functional paralysis extends beyond the Centre:
- The Jharkhand Information Commission has been completely defunct since May 2000 due to the state government failing to appoint any commissioners. The state argued that the absence of a Leader of the Opposition in the assembly prevented the required selection committee meeting; however, the Supreme Court has directed the state to fill the vacancies within nine weeks by appointing a member of the largest opposition party.
- State commissions from Telangana to Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Assam are operating with less than half their sanctioned strength, causing case disposal to slow dramatically and thus negating the primary objective of the RTI law: quick dissemination of information.
New Legal and Administrative Hurdles
The law is also facing new legal challenges, notably the amendment introduced through the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, which now prohibits the provision of “personal” information.
Furthermore, RTI activists complain that the Information Officers (PIOs), who are legally mandated to assist applicants, have instead become “frontal offices for denying the information on ‘flimsy grounds’”—citing reasons like the matter being sub-judice, being personal information, or invoking national security without proper public interest justification. The law explicitly requires information that serves public interest to be provided.
Activists note that the “process is punishment” for the RTI applicant, as officials know it will take years for an appeal to be properly heard. Even the Information Commissions themselves have, in some cases, become a hurdle; the Odisha Information Commission recently refused to provide information about its own pending appeals and disposal rate, citing “overburden” as the reason.
Despite the hurdles, Nikhil Dey of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) remains optimistic, stating the RTI has become a people’s movement that no government can stop. “Even poorest and most deprived person in this country knows about RTI and that is the biggest achievement,” he said.
Commemorating the Milestone
The genesis of the RTI movement began in 1996 with MKSS activists in Beawar, Rajasthan, who successfully demanded information on local development expenditure after a 44-day demonstration. This eventually led to the nationwide law being implemented on October 12, 2005, after deliberations with activists like Aruna Roy and Arvind Kejriwal.
To mark the 20th anniversary, a museum on the law is being developed at Beawar, which Dey says will be a “first of its kind—people’s RTI Museum in the world” documenting how the law has empowered ordinary citizens and strengthened democracy.
The CIC, however, will mark the 20th year with a muted celebration, abandoning the annual RTI lecture it previously held—a stark reminder, say activists, of the challenges currently facing the “sunshine law.”