Come February and it will be two years since the Telangana Information Commission (TGIC) has been defunct.
Delays in appointing information commissioners owing to bureaucratic hurdles and the lack of political will has meant that the TGIC now faces a significant backlog of over 16,000 second appeals and direct complaints, say activists.
When the public information officer (PIO) of a government department denies information or does not provide a satisfactory response within 30 days, an applicant can approach the State Information Commission for a second appeal.
Despite being dysfunctional, the office of the commission continues to receive and file fresh complaints and second appeals. “With no hearing of second appeals in the last two years, PIOs are confident while denying information. The present situation has become a convenient delaying tactic for officers while suppressing important information from the public,” says RTI activist Kareem Ansari, associated with the online portal youRTI.in.
The Supreme Court had on Tuesday expressed concerns over continued vacancies in central and state information commissions and said that the Right to Information (RTI) cannot be made redundant by keeping the bodies dysfunctional.
Responding to an RTI query, the office of the TGIC said that 5,502 direct complaints and 10,716 second appeals were pending disposal as of January 8, 2025. The commission has been receiving an average of 250-plus second appeals and less than 100 direct complaints every month, according to the RTI response.
The last chief information commissioner (CIC) Buddha Murali demitted office in September 2022. He was previously the State Information Commissioner (SIC) for three years and took over the CIC’s charge from his predecessor Raja Sadaram Soma in October 2020.
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The three-year tenure of five other Information Commissioners – Katta Shekar Reddy, Guguloth Shankar Naik, Syed Khaleelullah, Myda Narayana Reddy, and Mohd Amer – ended on February 24, 2023.
In August 2023, the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government in the state called for applications to fill the posts of CIC and SICs. This was more than four months after five SICs demitted office in Telangana, and over eight months after the CIC demitted office. More than 280 applications were received in this regard by the General Administration Department.
At the time, the commission had a pendency of over 9,000 cases. After the new Congress government came to power, a circular was issued again calling for fresh applications to fill the posts of Information Commissioners in TGIC in June 2024.
At the TGIC, officials said they collect fresh applications and file second appeals and these are segregated based on the departments and districts concerned so that whenever new commissioners take charge, they can start work right away. “We will be ready for hearings and disposal of appeals as and when appointments are made. Whether the posts are filled or not, the office of the Commission works like any other government office,” said an officer, adding that the number of direct complaints have been on the decline.
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As per the Right To Information Act, the state’s CIC and SICs are appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of a three-member committee comprising the Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, and a state Cabinet Minister. Besides the CIC, a state can have as many as 10 SICs.
Explaining the ground position, activist Ansari said he has a second appeal pending from 2022 about the status of public toilets under the jurisdiction of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. “What use is the information if the commission is made functional four years later? Yet there is no guarantee how long it would take to clear backlogs,” he said.
M Padmanabha Reddy of the Forum For Good Governance, who had filed a PIL before the Telangana High Court urging to direct the government to fill the vacancies at the commission, said several of their representations to the government, including the Chief Minister personally, have fallen on deaf ears. “Already, two years’ delay is too late. The government should not further delay the appointment of ICs. Considering the heavy pendency of backlog cases we need at least eight ICs immediately,” he says.
Reddy felt that as the previous government had shortlisted candidates from about 280 applications, there was no need to call for fresh applications. “The nominees should be independent so that if necessary they can pressure the officials concerned and pass on information to applicants without biases,” he said.
