Six of the 29 information commissions were defunct for varying periods between July 2024 and October 2025, says Satark Nagrik Sangathan
NEW DELHI — As the country marks 20 years of the Right to Information (RTI) Act this month, a new report by Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) has revealed an alarming decline in the functioning of information commissions — the institutions meant to uphold citizens’ right to know and ensure government accountability.
The SNS is a citizens’ group working to promote transparency and accountability in governance.
Its report, titled “Report Card on the Performance of Information Commissions in India, 2024–25,” finds that six of the 29 information commissions across the country were defunct for varying periods between July 2024 and October 2025.
In Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Tripura and Madhya Pradesh, no new commissioners were appointed upon incumbents demitting office. Two —Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh — remain non-functional even now due to the government’s failure to appoint commissioners, the report said.
Equally concerning, three commissions — the Central Information Commission (CIC) and the state commissions of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh — are currently functioning without a Chief Information Commissioner. This marks the seventh time in the past 11 years that the CIC has been headless.
The backlog of cases has reached a critical level, with over 4.13 lakh appeals and complaints pending nationwide as of June 2025. Eighteen commissions are estimated to take more than a year to dispose of a single case. The situation is dire in Telangana, where the waiting time is projected at an astonishing 29 years, followed by Tripura (23 years) and Chhattisgarh (11 years).
Between July 2024 and June 2025, 27 commissions received 2,41,751 appeals and complaints, but managed to dispose of only 1,82,165, indicating a widening gap between new filings and case resolutions. Several commissions are also operating with severely reduced strength. The CIC, for instance, currently has only two commissioners against the sanctioned strength of 11.
The SNS report exposes serious lapses in transparency and accountability. It found that commissions failed to impose penalties in 98% of cases where they were legally permissible. The CIC returned 38% of appeals and complaints without issuing any orders—a practice that undermines the very intent of the RTI Act.
Further, 20 out of 29 commissions (69%) have failed to publish their annual reports for 2023–24, despite a legal requirement under Section 25 of the RTI Act to do so.
Compiled by RTI activists Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri, the report warns that the neglect of these statutory bodies poses a serious threat to the transparency regime. “The failure to appoint commissioners, dispose of cases in time, and enforce accountability weakens the RTI framework and erodes citizens’ faith in the system,” they said.
As the RTI Act completes two decades on October 12, 2025, the SNS findings serve as a stark reminder that the promise of transparency and citizens’ right to information is fast being hollowed out by institutional apathy.
