More than 60 per cent CIC orders flawed: study

More than 60 percent of the central information commission (CIC) orders are "deficient" in terms of "recording critical facts" and "grounds for decision of the IC and the basis thereof." These findings are part of the study 'Key findings of research on the performance of adjudicators of the RTI Act: Information Commissions (ICs), High Courts and the Supreme Court'. It was conducted by the Research, Assessment and Group (RAAG) and Satark Nagrik Sangathan, which look after the implementation of RTI.

That apart, the study also showed that there was gross violation of the RTI Act by the commissions for not fining public information officers (PIO) who do not give information on time as mandatory in the Act.

The study was compiled by authors Anjali Bhardwaj, Amrita Johri, and Shekhar Singh and was published in January 2017. It also mentioned the average waiting period in each state
information commission. Maharahtra, as per the study has an eight month waiting period. Some benches in the state have a waiting period of over two years.

The study also states that the deficiency remained despite Supreme Court's clear directives which state that all information commission orders should have critical facts of cases mentioned in the order. 2,000 information commission orders studied stated that 63 per cent of the total orders passed did not have those details.

"In some cases, we have seen that even as a lay person, we can see that the court order does not help in providing any concrete information," said Bhardwaj.