New Delhi: The chief information commissioner of the Haryana State Information Commission has in an order advised all appellants and complainants to refrain from asking about the status of their cases on phone calls, WhatsApp or messages.
In the order which was issued on December 12, 2022, CIC Vijai Vardha also warned that such calls to the personal staff of the state information commissioners would be “tantamount to interfering in the functioning of the Commission”.
This move is being seen as another step in dissuading Right to Information (RTI) applicants from pursuing information through the Act.
“…all the complainants/appellants may also be advised not to make phone calls to the personal staff of the state information commissioners to furtively ferret out information about their pending complaints or appeals as the same [would be] tantamount to interfering in the functioning of the Commission,” the order said. It added:
“It may also be mentioned in the advisory that no SMS/WhatsApp message shall be sent by the appellants/complainants in pursuance of their appeals or complaints to the mobile phones of information commissioners as the same [would be] tantamount to harassing, badgering and pressurising the Commission.”
The CIC, however, advised that they can communicate their issues to the Commission through email.
RTI activists have pointed out that for applicants from rural areas, calls are a more convenient option to inquire about their cases as compared to sending emails. Some of them, including the Haryana Soochna Adhikar Manch state coordinator Subhash, have suggested that it would be better if the SIC starts a helpline for the applicants.
In Haryana, SIC’s average disposal time is five months
As per a recent report card by Satark Nagrik Sangathan on the functioning of the information commissions, the Haryana SIC registered 7,632 appeals and complaints and disposed of 8,044 between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022.
As for the backlog of appeals and complaints for the SIC, it stood at 4,073 on June 30, 2021 and at 3,661 as on June 30, 2022.
The report added the average time for the disposal of cases stood at five months in Haryana.
Under the circumstances, and especially in cases where the waiting time is more than the average, it is understandable that the applicants would want to know the reasons behind the delay in their cases.
Also read: RTI Information Flow Continues to Suffer Due to Vacancies, Tardy Rate of Disposal: Report
SIC was lenient in imposing penalties
While the Haryana SIC had topped the list of Commissions in issuing show-cause notices to public information officers, it was not as proactive in imposing penalties for not providing the information under the RTI Act.
Out of a total of 3,887 notices issued by 15 state commissions, the Haryana SIC issued 1,891 notices.
However, when it came to the imposition of penalty, Haryana stood third after Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. It had imposed a penalty of Rs 38.81 lakh in 161 cases.
Curbing the flow of information?
Recently, RTI activists have expressed concerns with the way various Commissions have been conducting themselves and with the manner in which they have been trying to restrict applicants from seeking information.
In August 2022, a large number of RTI activists, including several former CICs, slammed the Gujarat SIC for banning 10 RTI applicants from filing applications and termed its action as a “complete overreach” and “grossly unconstitutional”.
They said in doing so, the Commission had abrogated powers unto itself which the constitution does not provide and that these actions are akin to those of a ‘dictator’.
Speaking on the issue in August last year, Anjali Bhardwaj of the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information said, “At this moment, we find that there is a new frontier. We are at a stage where Information Commissions are stepping up and banning people and blacklisting RTI applicants for various reasons.”
The RTI activist noted that nowhere does the RTI Act empower the Commissions to ban applicants or deny them information in this manner.
She had said that RTI activists have long demanded that all information should be proactively declared and should not be hidden behind any curtain.
Citing an analysis of RTI applications, she added that less than 1% of them can be termed “frivolous and vexatious”.
