Arappor wants effective functioning of TN State Information Commission

CHENNAI: Citing inordinate delay in getting information under RTI Act, Arappor Iyakkam, an anti-graft organisation, has urged the state government to increase the number of information commissioners by 4 and fill 2 existing vacant information commissioner posts.

In a petition to chief secretary N Muruganandam, finance minister Thangam Thennarasu and other senior officials, Jayaram Venkatesan, convenor of Arappor Iyakkam, pointed out that there is a huge delay in the hearing for second appeals by the Information Commission. "As of September 2024, more than 48,000 second appeals are pending with the State Information Commission. The cause lists for February 2025 shows that cases from 2021 and 2022 are still being heard in February 2025," he said.

He added that of the cases heard and judgement passed in December 2024, 8 per cent of the appellants face a delay of 3 years or more, 47 per cent of the appellants face a delay of 2 to 3 years, 33 per cent of the appellants face a delay of 1 to 2 years. Only 11 per cent of the appellants are heard within a year of filing a second appeal.

"Of the cases heard and Judgement passed in January 2025, 7% of the appellants face a delay of 3 years or more, 45% of the appellants face a delay of between 2 to 3 years, 38% of the appellants face a delay between 1 to 2 years. Only 10 % of the appellants are heard within a year of filing a second appeal," he explained.

Also, while the

TN State Information Commission has heard 13,966 second appeals between January 2024 to September 2024, penalty has been imposed only in 21 cases, compensation in only 96 cases and disciplinary action in only 15 cases.

"Currently there are only 5 Information Commissioners including the Chief Information Commissioner and each Commissioner is hearing on an average of 200 to 250 cases per month which boils down to just 10 cases a working day. While High Court Judges are able to hear 50 to 100 cases per day and also write and deliver Judgements, why can’t Information Commissioners do the same? It shows a huge lack of commitment on the part of Information Commissioners," Jayaram Venkatesan alleged.

Saying that the Information Commission has sanctioned posts of one Chief Information Commissioner and 6 Information Commissioners, the petition pointed out that 2 Information Commissioner's posts are vacant for more than a year.