Gujarat does not figure in the list of top Right to Information (RTI) compliance states as per the study conducted by the National RTI Awards Secretariat, a non-governmental initiative by the Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF).

Karnataka has topsped the list. The study was based on the feedback of 6,000 of nearly 35,000 respondents and analysis of decisions of various information commissions.

RTI experts in Gujarat say that the state commission is overburdened, and many times, the single appeal mechanism does not work. This has resulted in the performance of RTI as well as the satisfaction of the appeal in the state.

“The state commission is overburdened and has only one commissioner. That is the reason why the state has not been able to do well,” said Harinesh Pandya of Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (MAGP).

In 2008, Gujarat had ordered a total of 1,033 cases to be disclosed and denied complete information in 182 cases.

“Gujarat needs at least two commissioners in order to handle the backlog of cases. Goa, which is comparatively a smaller state, has three commissioners,” said Pandya. The state

Information Commissioner R N Das was not available for comments on the state commission’s performance.

Four key metrics of the study were overall public satisfaction, effectiveness, deterrent impact, and pro-disclosure factor.

There are a total of 28 information commissions — one in each state and one at the Centre — with 94 information commissioners and several joint benches.