The Karnataka Information Commission (KIC) is sitting on a mountain of pending RTI cases as the post of commissioner at the Belagavi bench has been lying vacant for a year, a crisis that is gravely undermining the fight for transparency.
People approach the KIC as the final remedy when officials fail to provide information. This is done by filing a second appeal in the KIC.
Under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the commission directs the government authorities to provide information and also penalises them for violations of the transparency rule.
The government has sanctioned only 11 posts or benches to hear second appeals from the entire state (each bench has one commissioner). But even among the tiny number of sanctioned posts, five have remained vacant, leading to the pending cases touching a whopping 35,000.
Activists have complained that the pendency has emboldened the officials to ignore their applications.
Filling the vacant posts is the responsibility of the government. A committee comprising the chief minister, leader of the Opposition and another member nominated by the chief minister selects the commissioners from among the applicants.
The disregard is best illustrated in the case of the Belagavi bench, which became vacant back in April 2022. Applications to fill the position were called and the procedure was supposed to be completed by September last year. However, the bench has remained vacant and the pending cases have reached 14,000.
The Kalaburagi bench is another case study in government indifference. Set up nearly two years ago to bring relief to RTI applicants from Kalyan Karnataka, it doesn't have its own building.
This has led to the commissioner holding hearings in Bengaluru, forcing RTI applicants to travel to the capital for getting bits of information like the amount sanctioned to a gram panchayat in a financial year.
Shravankumar D Nayak, an activist from Kalaburagi, said he spent Rs 4,000 on travel and lodging when he had to attend a hearing on April 20.
"It's been two years since the bench was announced. How can the government not sanction a room? We were told this was due to staff shortage. They are trying their best to defeat the RTI Act," he said.
When contacted, State Chief Information Commissioner N C Srinivasa said the KIC has been trying its best to resolve the problem.
"When a bench lies vacant for more than a year, cases pile up. I transferred some of the cases and cleared them recently. I have also held a meeting with the commissioners and we have agreed to take up a special drive to clear old cases," he said, adding that he could not comment on vacancies since the power to appoint commissioners lies with the government.
Interestingly, the government has also failed to provide permanent staffers to the commission. From typists in the court to attenders, the staffers in the KIC are outsourced employees. An official in the commission said this has affected the quality of the work.