Since the RTI Act does not set a time limit for hearing the second appeal, users have blamed it for appeals being pending at the commission for a long time
An order of High Court of Karnataka, Bengaluru bench has become a talking point among RTI users in the city as it looks to fix a time limit in which the second appeal has to be decided. High Court orders are often cited as case laws in various commissions. Since the RTI Act does not set a time limit for hearing the second appeal, users have blamed it for appeals being pending at the commission for a long time.
As per the order that is dated October 29, 2015, which has come to light recently, it states that the second appeal should be heard within 45 days. The order by Justice Anand Byrareddy states "It is indeed to be noticed that no time limit is prescribed to decide the second appeal. Therefore, it would have to be interpreted that when no time is prescribed, it would follow that it ought to be decided within a reasonable time. "
In Maharashtra state information commission, the oldest pending appeal is of 2014. As per the RTI Act, a person is supposed to get information within 30 days. If he does not, he files a first appeal which has to be heard within 45 days as per law.
Sumit Mullick, state chief information commissioner when contacted said, "I will have to analyse the order. In my case, the pending appeals were over 1,000 and they are increasing. I hear 25 appeals every day and it is not possible to clear all appeals in 45 days. Also as of now, we do not have the full strength of commissioners."
"We will be sending this order to the commission and also to the government and asking them to implement it. There is no contradictory order against this. This matter needs to be taken by the commissions in state and across the country," said Bhaskar Prabhu, a city-based activist and former member of the technical advisory committee of BMC for Suo motu disclosure under RTI.
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