Overview

• Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the 2019 amendment letting the Centre set information commissioners’ tenure and pay and the 2023 data-protection law have eroded independence and narrowed disclosures.
• Kharge alleged prolonged vacancies have hobbled the Central Information Commission, noting the post of chief fell vacant multiple times and claiming eight seats have gone unfilled for over a year.
• Journalistic analyses report more than 405,000 appeals and complaints pending nationwide by mid-2024, with several state commissions left headless for stretches and over 40 of 165 sanctioned commissioner posts vacant.
• Operational failures persist, with reports of routine delays by Public Information Officers and penalties imposed in fewer than five percent of proven violations, weakening the Act’s 30‑day remedy.
• Former Supreme Court judge Madan B. Lokur warned that continued neglect and dilution could render the RTI effectively defunct within a few years without corrective reforms, as quoted in recent commentary.