SHILLONG, Oct 20: Nineteen years after the Right to Information (RTI) Act was introduced in India, the legislation, once hailed as a revolutionary step toward transparency, appears to be losing its effectiveness in many states, including Meghalaya. Data compiled by the Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) highlights how information commissions across the country, designed to uphold citizens’ right to access public information, are becoming increasingly ineffective.
As of June 2024, Meghalaya had 23 pending appeals under the RTI Act. While this figure is lower compared to other states, the delays in addressing these appeals are significant. Citizens filing a complaint in July 2024 can expect to wait an estimated six months before their case is resolved. Meghalaya’s average time to dispose of an appeal is six months.
This lag undermines the very objective of the RTI Act, making it difficult for those most reliant on government services to exercise their right to information.
Adding to the challenge is the lack of penalties imposed for withholding information.
In Meghalaya, from July 2023 to 2024, no penalties were imposed on officials, despite the commission’s power to do so.
The RTI Act empowers commissions to impose penalties of up to Rs 25,000 on erring public information officers (PIOs) for violating the Act. This penalty clause is one of the key provisions that gives the law its enforcement power. The RTI Act, which empowers citizens to seek information from the government, assigns information commissions the role of the final appellate authority. However, one of the most glaring issues is the commission’s own lack of transparency. The Act requires every information commission to submit an annual report on its performance to the state legislature or parliament. However, Meghalaya has not published an annual report since 2021. While the commission disposed of all four appeals and eight complaints in 2021, the low number of appeals suggests that the law is underutilized in the state.
