With the Gujarat government not filling up the posts of two information commissioners in the State Information Commission for the last two years, the number of applications is only piling up. And the people seeking information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act have been at the receiving end.

While the one-man commission headed by State Chief Information Commissioner R N Das has been able to dispose of a little over 5,000 cases, there is still a backlog of about 6,000 applications.

Although Das has been clearing about 350 cases a month

on an average, high inflow of cases from across the state are further adding to the backlog. According to Das, the commission has been receiving, on an average, 250 to 300 new applications every month.

“The huge inflow of cases is a good sign of awareness among the people of the state and their faith in RTI. This is despite the fact that it takes a long time to take up their cases due to the lack of hands in the commission,” said Das, adding, “It is also a fact that the commission is getting overburdened with this”.

In fact, the State Information Commission has been working as a one-man commission ever since it began operating on October 13, 2005. Even states much smaller than Gujarat, like Goa, with a total population of just 13 lakhs, have two information commissioners; Haryana has seven, Arunachal Pradesh eight and Punjab has 11.

“It is highly illogical to have a one-man information commission in Gujarat when its population exceeds 5.5 crore and a large number of RTI applications

... contd.