New Delhi, Oct 13 As many as 3.85 lakh appeals and complaints were pending across 28 information commissions as of June 30, 2026, while concerns have been raised over cases being returned without orders, according to a report by a transparency watchdog.
As the Right to Information (RTI) Act completed 21 years on October 12, the report by Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) found that nine information commissions returned 37,701 cases without passing orders between July 2025 and June 2026.
The figure covers only the nine commissions that provided the data.
The Central Information Commission (CIC) accounted for 14,603 returned cases, followed by the Maharashtra State Information Commission with 14,140, Bihar with 4,417 and Gujarat with 3,276, the report said.
Five commissions did not provide data on the number of appeals and complaints returned.
Anjali Bhardwaj, founder of SNS, told PTI that the central government and some state governments had prescribed formats for filing second appeals, and commissions returned cases that did not conform to those formats.
She claimed some appeals were returned over minor defects such as missing page numbers. “The commission must facilitate people’s right to information and not create unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles in accessing information,” she said.
The report said the CIC returned 14,603 cases against 31,179 registered during the period under review. It also cited earlier data showing that nearly 95 per cent of appeals returned by the CIC were not re-filed.
Amrita Johri, who is associated with SNS, said that many RTI applicants from poor and marginalised communities seek information about their basic entitlements and often pursue their cases without legal assistance.
She said commissions should take up appeals as long as the basic material is provided and called for the practice of returning appeals and complaints to be discontinued.
The concerns come amid rising pendency at the CIC.
Transparency campaigner Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd.) told PTI that pending cases at the CIC had increased by 9,378 between January 1 and October 12, 2026, despite it having its full strength of 11 commissioners, including the chief information commissioner.
“This is a very worrisome situation and the CIC should be worried and take steps to reduce the pendency, like by working late hours,” he said, adding the “guardians of transparency” had turned into “guardians of opacity”.
Fourteen information commissions across the country may take a year or more to dispose of appeals and complaints, according to the report.
The estimated waiting period was 19 years and eight months in Tripura, 19 years and two months in Madhya Pradesh and 18 years in Chhattisgarh, it claimed.
(PTI News)
