Nine out of 29 (31%) Information Commissions including the CIC are currently headless i.e. without a Chief Commissioner. Two SICs- Jharkhand and Tripura- are completely defunct, finds Satark Nagrik Sangathan's report.

RTI marks its 15th anniversary today.

@AnjaliB_

The number of appeals and complaints pending on July 31, 2020 in the 20 information commissions, from which data was obtained, stood at 2,21,568. The backlog has been steadily increasing.

The report calculates the estimated time each commission would need to dispose of a new appeal/complaint. Odisha SIC would take 7 years and 8 months to dispose of a matter.

In Jharkhand SIC, it would take 4 years and 1 month, while in Maharashtra, CIC, Rajasthan, and Nagaland it would take 2 years or more. The assessment shows that 9 commissions would take more than 1 year to dispose of a matter.

Penalty was imposed in just 2.2% of the cases disposed by Information Commissions.