The Chief Information Commissioner and one Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission have been appointed by the Government on 06.03.2020.
Implementation of various provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005 including appointment of Information Commissioners in a State, is the responsibility of the State Government concerned.
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in written reply to questions in Lok Sabha today informed that as on 12.03.2020, the number of appeals pending in the Central Information Commission was 30,911. The percentage of disposal of appeals during 2019-20 (upto 12.03.2020) is 81%.
The tenure of posts is governed by the Right to Information Act, 2005 and the ‘Right to Information (Term of Office, Salaries, Allowances and Other Terms and Conditions of Service of Chief Information Commissioner, Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission, State Chief Information Commissioner and State Information Commissioners in the State Information Commission) Rules, 2019’.
Disposal of RTI applications is the primary responsibility of the State or Central Public Information Officer. Related first appeals are to be disposed by the respective First Appellate Authority and the second appeals by the respective Information Commission. In order to facilitate speedy disposal, the Central Government has taken several steps like issuing instructions impressing upon the Public Authorities to disclose information proactively so that citizens need not resort to filing of RTI applications to access information available with the Public Authorities; and capacity building through training and issue of guidelines for Public Information Officers and First Appellate Authorities to dispose of RTI applications/appeals effectively, resulting into less number of appeals to the Information Commission.
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