The West Bengal State Information Commission is likely to take more than 24 years to dispose of a complaint filed by an RTI applicant, according to a report by a citizens' group, which has calculated the disposal rate of information commissions in 26 states.
The estimated time for disposal of appeals by the Odisha and Maharashtra state information commissions is more than five years, while for Bihar, it is more than two years, according to the report released by Satark Nagrik Sangathan on the eve of the 17th anniversary of the enactment of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.
The report used the average monthly disposal rate and the pendency in the commissions to calculate the time they would take to dispose of an appeal or a complaint.
"The assessment shows that the West Bengal SIC would take an estimated 24 years and three months to dispose of a matter. A matter filed on July 1, 2022, would be disposed of in the year 2046 at the current monthly rate of disposal," the report said.
The report said more than 3.14 lakh appeals and complaints were pending as on June 30 in the 26 information commissions, from which data was obtained.
"The backlog of appeals or complaints has been steadily increasing in the commissions. The 2019 assessment had found that as of March 31, 2019, a total of 2.18 lakh appeals and complaints were pending in the 26 information commissions from which data was obtained, which had climbed to 2.86 lakh as of June 30, 2021," it said.
It is mandatory for the information commissions to impose a penalty on the public information officer if there is a delay in providing information or any other violation of the RTI Act, but the analysis showed that they did not impose penalties in 95 per cent of such cases.
"Section 25 of the RTI Act obligates each commission to prepare a report on the implementation of the provisions of this Act every year, which is to be laid before Parliament or the state legislature. Twenty out of 29 ICs (69 per cent) have not published their annual report for 2020-21," it said.