Over 22,000 second appeals, complaints pending with CIC: Govt tells RS

Over 22,000 second appeals and complaints were pending with the Central Information Commission as on December 5, 2022, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.

The CIC is mandated to deal with second appeals and complaints filed by RTI applicants in case they are aggrieved with the responses provided to them by government departments.

Of the total pendency of 22,442, 19,178 were second appeals and 3,264 complaints, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in reply to a written question.

To a question on whether the government was aware of cases where personal information of some RTI applicants have been made public, the minister said the Centre has from time to time issued guidelines or office memorandums "bringing to notice of all ministries/departments of government of India that personal information of an RTI applicant should not be disclosed".

Section 8(1) (j) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 provides that it is not obligatory for public information officers to give any information to citizens which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information, Singh said.

In response to another question, the minister said information commissioners and the Central Information Commission issue advisories to central public information officers from time to time as part of their orders to ensure compliance with provisions of the RTI Act, 2005.

In addition, the Central Information Commission wrote to ministries and departments on 28.07.2022 and 01.09.2022, requesting them to take necessary steps and nominate training institutes for conducting transparency or third party audit of their suo motu disclosure under section 4 of RTI Act for year 2021-22, Singh said.

"Public authorities are required to get a transparency audit conducted every year and the outcome of such reports form part of the CIC's annual report," he added.