The central government last week named Vijai Sharma as the new chief information commissioner, a post vacant since August 2014. Sharma, an information commissioner since 2012, must know that his plate is full.
The number of applications being filed under RTI has been on the increase since 2009-10. Simultaneously, the number of these applications being rejected by the government has also increased.
Though the percentage of applications being rejected fell between 2012-13 and 2013-14, these were still 75 per cent more than in 2009-10. This, though, still doesn't reflect the true picture, as around 30 per cent of public authorities in India have not filed their annual returns, despite being mandated to do so under the RTI Act.
Among the entities that were most frequent in rejecting RTI applications, government companies (under Companies Act) formed the largest share. During 2013-14, they rejected around 35 per cent of all RTI applications (that is, total applications received by all government departments), followed by subordinate offices of the government (21 per cent) and attached offices (14 per cent). Among the ministries, the ministry of corporate affairs led the pack, followed by the Prime Minister's Office.
But, Sharma should worry: Both the number of pending complaints and pending appeals have been piling up for the past few years. This is partly because the government is rejecting more applications, then challenged in the CIC. The absence of a CIC since August is being felt: The number of appeals pending with the Commission in the past one year has doubled.
