No Data on RTI Applications in Which Info Was Denied: Centre Tells Parliament
New Delhi: The Union government has informed parliament that there is no information on the Right to Information (RTI) applications that were returned with no answer or denied information in the last five years as the Central Information Commission (CIC) does not compile such data.
In a written question in the Rajya Sabha, Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Ritabrata Banerjee sought the number of applications filed under the RTI Act, 2005, during the last five years, the number of applications rejected, the number of applications with no answers or denied information and the year-wise details of applications answered.
In response to the number of applications with no answers or denied information, the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and the Prime Minister’s Office, Jitendra Singh, said that “the Central Information Commission (CIC) has informed that no such data is compiled by them.”
In his reply, Singh, however, provided data for the number of applications filed, rejected and answered. He said 17,50,863 RTI applications were filed, 67,615 were rejected and 14,30,031 were answered.
Singh also said that 16,38,784 RTI applications were filed during one year – 2022-2023 – while 52,662 were rejected and 13,15,222 were answered.
In 2021-2022, a total of 14,21,226 applications were filed, of which 53,733 were rejected and 11,31,757 were answered.
His reply said that 13,33,802 and 13,74,315 RTI applications were filed in 2020-2021 and 2019-2020, respectively. While 10,86,657 were answered in 2019-20, the data on answers provided is not available for 2019-20, the reply said.
The Union government has, therefore, not provided data for RTI applications under which information was denied.
The issue came into focus recently when the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, was notified last month for staggered implementation. This Act, through Section 44(3), amends Section 8(1)(j) of RTI Act to exempt all personal information from disclosure.
In addition, the Central Information Commission has been operating with only two information commissioners since September 14, while the post of the chief information commissioner and eight commissioners are currently vacant.
Transparency activists have said that this has created a situation that “negates the very purpose of the RTI Act”.
The government's response that the CIC does not compile data on the number of applications with no answer or denied information, comes as reports say there is a rising trend in pending RTI applications across the country.
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