Women make up only 9% of Information Commission appointments since 2005: RTI

The Report Card on the Performance of Information Commissions in India reveals some interesting figures.

New Delhi: Merely 9 per cent of Information Commissioners at the central and state levels appointed since 2005 were women while retired government officials dominated such postings cornering 58 per cent of the total appointments, a new report released on Thursday said.

The 'Report Card on the Performance of Information Commissions in India 2022-23' said 12 Information Commissions -- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Telangana, Uttarakhand and West Bengal -- never had a woman commissioner since they were constituted.

Of the 29 Information Commissions across the country, only 5 per cent chiefs ever were women and at present, none of the information commissions was headed by a woman, the report prepared by the Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) said.

Clearly much needs to be done to address the poor representation of women in information commissions, it added.

The report also highlighted that the appointments are skewed in favour of government officials though the RTI Act makes it clear that Information Commissioners can be appointed from diverse backgrounds and fields and the Supreme Court had reiterated this aspect in its February 2019 judgement.

Of the 465 commissioners for whom background information was available, the report said 58 per cent were retired officials while 14 per cent were lawyers or former judges, 11 per cent had a background in journalism, 5 per cent academics and 4 per cent social activists or workers.

Of the 138 chief information commissioners for whom data was obtained, an overwhelming 86 per cent were retired government servants- of which more than 71 per cent were retired IAS officers while 8 per cent had a background in law (4 per cent former judges and 4 per cent lawyers or judicial officers), it said.

"Research has shown that the quality of orders passed by most information commissions in India is far from satisfactory, which indicates that the practice of populating ICs primarily with ex-bureaucrats has perhaps not been the best strategy," the report said.

Eight commissions had returned appeals/complaints without passing any orders. The Central Information Commission and the State Information Commissions of UP, Bihar, Rajasthan and Kerala returned 41 per cent appeals/complaints without passing any orders.

Only eight of 29 Information Commissions open the proceedings to the public. An interim report published in October last year had highlighted that 3.21 lakh complaints and appeals were pending.