Maharashtra: 75,000 pending RTI pleas and plaints as 4 benches headless

PUNE: Nearly 75,000 Right to Information (RTI) appeals and complaints are pending in Maharashtra as the government is yet to appoint commissioners for Nashik, Pune, Nagpur and Amravati, activists said.

As per the data on the state information commission’s website, the number of pending complaints and second appeals was already over 74,240 for the eight benches till May this year. The activists have appealed to the government to implement the Act in letter and spirit.
According to the data, 63,045 pending appeals have been uploaded on the website of which the Pune bench has the largest pendency of 16,961, followed by Aurangabad with 10,919. Altogether 11,195 complaints are pending, with the Mumbai bench registering a pendency of 1,768 complaints.
Former chief information commissioner (CIC) Shailesh Gandhi, also an RTI activist, said that the RTI seems to be just an Act on paper with hardly any implementation because of such huge pendency in the state. “We expect the commission to draw up a plan showing how with the 11 commissioners could meet the directives of the high court in two years’ time,” Gandhi said. “If they are not given adequate resources, they should demand these from the government. The responsibility of meeting the directives of law is with them.”
While the information commissioner’s (IC) post in Nashik has been vacant since February 2019, Pune has not had an IC since November 2018, and Nagpur since June 2018. With the recent retirement of the Amravati commissioner, another post has fallen vacant.
Unlike in other states, the IC posts in Maharashtra have been created as per geographical zones. Thus, IC posts have been created for Mumbai, Brihanmumbai, Konkan, Nashik, Amaravati, Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad.
State CIC Sumit Mullick told TOI that officials are trying to hear as many cases as possible online and offline. “As of now, we have only four information commissioners and if all the 11 required posts are filled, we should be able to speed up hearing of cases. More cases are being filed daily, so obviously the numbers are increasing,” he added.
Sources in the state government said that they had invited applications for the IC posts, but changes in some rules have delayed the appointments. The search committee is expected to shortlist the names and sent them to the chief minister-led committee for appointment, as per the norms.