Information appeals clog Pune bench of information commissioner

The Pune bench of the state information commissioner (SIC), Vijay Kuvalekar, has been witnessing a deluge of second appeals. Interestingly, a majority of the second appeals have been filed only by a handful of people.

Since the introduction of the Pune bench of the SIC in February 2007, a total of 938 second appeals have been filed by 87 individuals. Right to information (RTI) activists point out this trend of filing multiple appeals as a major cause for the increase in pendency rate. More than 2,000 appeals are pending with the Pune bench alone.

The second appeals in question are filed with the SIC under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, by applicants in case of non-satisfactory resolution of the first appeals with the appellate authorities.

While there is a time frame of 45 days for disposal of the first appeal, there is no such limit for disposal of second appeals by information commissioners. In Pune, applicants often have to wait a year before their cases come up for hearing before the SIC. Out of the 87 people in question, 61 are from Pune district, 15 from Solapur district, seven from Kolhapur district and four from Satara. Pune district tops the list with 795 appeals, followed by Kolhapur with 87 appeals.

With 42 appeals filed in a span of just one month, Pune also tops the list of maximum number of appeals filed by an individual. Expressing concern over this trend, RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar said, “I have personally scrutinised some of the appeals, and have found that a majority of them are beyond the scope of the RTI Act.”

“The RTI Act has no provision for limiting the number of second appeals, but I suggest that we start boycotting such people. Because of such people, genuine RTI users are suffering,” he said.

Major General (rtd) SCN Jatar pointed out the lethargy on the part of the government in addressing this problem. “No amendment is required of the Act in order to stop the avalanche of second appeals, but formation of simple rules can do the trick. Lack of political will on the part of the government and SICs is to be blamed for the growth of this trend,” he said.