A.K. Sikri, J. - (1.) This writfiled under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, as a Public Interest Litigation. The petitioners state that it is filed with the aim to have effective implementation of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as 'RTI Act') so that fundamental rights of citizens to access information from public authorities are secured. Under the RTI Act, the Central Information Commission (for short, 'CIC') and State Information Commissions (for short, 'SICs') have been created as statutory bodies to decide appeals and complaints against public authorities for non-compliance with the RTI law. On that basis, the petitioners assert that it is essential to have proper functioning of these institutions for effective implemention of the RTI Act. As per the petitioners, neither the Central Government in respect of CIC nor the State Government in respect of SICs, are filling the vacancies for the appointment of Commissioners in a timely manner. As a result the functioning of RTI Act is stifled. It is leading to huge backlogs of appeals and complaints in many Commissions across the country. The focus of the petition, thus, is to impress upon the respective governments to fill up such vacancies as and when they arise, without any delays.
(2.) It is averred by the petitioners in the petition that the RTI Act is a time-bound legislation and prescribes statutory timelines for providing the information. When that is not provided, or the applicant is aggrieved by the nature of response received, she/he is also entitled to file a first appeal with the designated First Appellate Authority. The First Appellate Authority is obligated to dispose of such an appeal within maximum period of 45 days. The reading of Sections 7 and 19 of the RTI Act makes it clear that the RTI Act is a time-bound legislation for effectively exercising the fundamental right to information guaranteed in Article 19 of the Constitution of India. However, the CIC and SICs which are the final appellate authorities under the RTI Act, and are the guardians of the Act are taking many months, and in some cases even years, to decide appeals and complaints due to accumulation of pending appeals/complaints. The main cause for such a delay is large number of vacancies in SICs across India.
(3.) The petition points out that a report published in March, 2018 titled, 'Report Card on the Performance of Information Commissions in India' found that eight information commissions had a waiting time of more than one year for an appeal/complaint to be heard, which was calculated on the basis of the number of appeals and complaints pending as on October 31, 2017 and the monthly disposal rate. Further, several Information Commissioners thereby undermine the autonomy of the Commission which hampers its smooth functioning including its ability to comply with the directions of the Supreme Court regarding the power of the Chief Information Commissioner to decide formation of special benches to hear matters involving complex questions of law. By not filing up vacancies in information commissions in a timely manner, the Central and State Governments are frustrating the very purpose of the RTI Act as receiving information in a time-bound manner is the essence of the law.;