'21 of 29 Information Commissions did not work during COVID-19 lockdown'

Twenty-one of the 29 Information Commissions, including Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, have not conducted hearing during the COVID-19 lockdown with transparency activists arguing that it was "absolutely critical" that these institutions conduct business and dispose cases to ensure people can exercise their fundamental right to information.

The 'Status of Information Commissions in India during COVID-19 Crisis' report prepared by Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) and Centre for Equity Studies (CES) showed that only seven of these commissions, including the Central Information Commission, made provision for taking up urgent matters or those related to life and liberty during the period when normal functioning was affected due to the lockdown as on May 15.

"It is behind the cloak of secrecy that the rights of individuals are most frequently abrogated and corruption thrives...During the COVID-19 crisis, the role of information commissions in guaranteeing compliance with the provisions of the transparency law, is more critical than ever before to ensure the RTI Act is not trampled," the report said.

The report analysed the working of the CIC and 28 State Information Commissions (SICs), which were set up under the Right to Information Act. During lockdown that started on March 25, all government offices, autonomous bodies and public corporations were allowed to open from April 20.

The CIC and four four SICs of Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Telangana were holding hearings and disposing appeals/complaints on all matters. In Haryana, only the chief state information commission was hearing cases while the SICs in Manipur, Punjab and Rajasthan were available only for urgent matters or those involving life or liberty.

Andhra Pradesh SIC was only taking up matters in which information had been denied and was deciding these on the basis of available documents, without holding any hearings. SICs in 11 states did not provide any information about their functioning during lockdown, including those in Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, in their websites. However, SICs in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur and Sikkim informed SNS and CES over telephone that notifications had been issued but not uploaded on their websites.

During the lockdown period, the websites of SICs in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Nagaland were not accessible.

"This is extremely problematic during a time when offices are shut and the primary way for citizens to know about the functioning of commissions and the (re)scheduling of cases is through their websites. It appears that the website of the Bihar SIC has been inaccessible for more than 28 months. An assessment published in 2018 had also found the website to be non-functional. Even the website of the SIC of Madhya Pradesh has been inaccessible for several months while that of Nagaland appeared to be experiencing technical problems," the report said.

The report also found out that SICs in Jharkhand and Tripura did not have a functioning Information Commissioner during lockdown period for varying lengths of time. "These were routine and scheduled retirements occurring due to the Commissioner either completing his tenure or attaining the age of 65 years," it said.

Bihar, Goa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh SICs were also functioning without a Chief Information Commissioner. The SIC of Rajasthan has been functioning without a Chief Information Commissioner for more than 15 months, since December 2018. The Chiefs of the Goa and Uttar Pradesh SICs retired in February 2020, while the Chief of the Bihar SIC retired in July 2019, it said.

The report acknowledged that it was reasonable to expect some delays in processing information requests, commissions must not abdicate their statutory role in ensuring access to information, especially related to delivery of essential commodities and services, the report said adding there are adequate provisions in the RTI Act for commissions to accommodate delays due to extenuating circumstances.

"The backlog of appeals and complaints was already large in many information commissions even before the current crisis, resulting in inordinate delays in disposal of cases. If commissions are not functional, the backlogs will further increase rendering the law meaningless for many," it said.

"Although challenges thrown up by the crisis are immense, it is absolutely critical that all information commissions conduct hearings and dispose cases to ensure people can exercise their fundamental right to information. Given the nature of the crisis, which could result in frequent lockdown and disruptions over the next several months, possibly years, information commissions have the obligation to put in place mechanisms, including people friendly technological solutions, in case physical hearings are not possible," it said.