State of records at Information Commissions

In response to our initial letter and phone calls to the then acting Chief Information Commissioner, Sh Gyanendra Sharma, we were informed that the UP Commission does not have copies of “all” orders. They can provide us with some of their best orders. Therefore, we filed an RTI application asking for copies of all orders. We did not get any reply to the RTI application in 30 days. When we filed first appeal in the Commission itself, we were asked to come and attend a hearing at Lucknow. During hearing, we were informed that UP Commission had passed 22,658 orders during calendar year 2008. If we wanted copies of orders, we should provide them with the following details for each order:

1. Order No
2. Name of appellant
3. Name of respondent
4. District of respondent
5. Decided/Pending
6. Last date of hearing, if any
7. Next date of hearing, if any
8. Date of final hearing, if any
9. Name of Information Commissioner
10. Description of the order
11. Any other description.

Obviously we did not have any of the above details for any of the orders, otherwise why would we be asking them.

They asked us to attach Rs 10 court fee for each order. That would have cost us Rs 2.2 lakhs!

The Chief Information Commissioner had already informed us earlier that the Commission does not have copies of all orders. Obviously, the Commission now was trying to hide their deficiency through this order.

We made two more visits to Lucknow. Finally, we could not obtain orders from UP Information Commission. UP and TN are the only Commissions in the country who failed to provide us with copies of their orders. UP is the only Commission which asked us money for providing copies of their own orders, which under section 4 of RTI Act, should be there on their website.

In response to our letter requesting for copies of orders, the Commission gave a curious reply vide its letter no 08.04.09. The first para of this letter said that the Commission had allowed 966 appeals during the year 2008 but the last para of the letter said that the Commission had disposed 112 cases which were on their website. We called them up and they clarified that the first para was wrong and the total orders passed were 112 only.

We found 102 orders on their website. In order to confirm and get copies of balance orders, we filed an RTI application and wrote a letter to them on 27.6.09, to which they said that the Commission had passed orders in 355 complaints and appeals during 2008. All our subsequent efforts at contacting them to get a clarification and to get copies of the balance orders failed. So, we have analyzed only 102 orders of West Bengal Commission.

Tripura

In response to our letter requesting copies of all orders, we were informed that the Commission had passed 102 orders, which are on their website. They provided us with hard copies of 32 orders, which they said were not on their site. However, even after downloading all orders and including these 32 orders, we had only 74 orders. When we informed them about this, they sent us another 14 orders. So, finally we have 88 orders, which have been analyzed.

Tamil Nadu

 In response to our letter requesting copies of all orders, the Commission sent us a CD containing orders passed during September to December 2008. We were informed on phone that the rest of their orders are on their website. After downloading them, we had a total of 614 orders. However, in response to our RTI application, they wrote to us in September 2009 that the Commission had passed 40,402 orders during the calendar year 2008! They again mentioned that all their orders are on Commission’s website. When we again checked the site, we found only 900 orders on the site. Since we failed to obtain the orders from TN Commission despite our best efforts, we have not been able to analyze the performance of TN Commission.

Rajasthan

We have received copies of 2017 orders from them, though the Commission says there are 2106 orders.

Orissa

The Commission provided us with copies of all their orders on a CD.

Nagaland

We downloaded 11 orders from their website, though they claim to have passed 12 orders.

Mizoram

Meghalaya

They provided us with hard copies of 42 orders against 45 orders claimed to have been passed by them.

Manipur

They provided us with hard copies of 82 orders against 99 orders claimed to have been passed by them.

MP

Despite several letters, several phone calls and one visit to Bhopal, we could obtain copies of 1633 orders against a total of 2161 orders claimed to have been passed by them.

Kerala

After two RTIs and several letters and phone calls, we finally got copies of almost all orders.

Karnataka

Karnataka has also provided us copies of all their orders on a CD.

Jharkhand

Several letters and phone calls later, we made a visit to Ranchi. We were provided copies of 902 orders. In response to our letter to confirm that there were no more orders, they have now, in September, written that there are 1415 orders. We have, however, limited our analysis to 902 orders.

HP

They have provided us with copies of all their orders in CD and hard copies.

Haryana

They have provided us with copies of all their orders on a CD.

Gujarat

They sent us a CD containing 1443 orders. However, they have been claiming that the CD contains 1883 orders passed by the Commission during 2008. We have analysed 1443 orders found on this CD.

Goa

They said all there orders on website. We found 275 orders on their site.

Chhattisgarh

Initially, the Commission claimed to have passed 2387 orders – all commissioners together – during 2008. However, they refused to give us the copies saying that was not possible. When we visited them, they provided us with copies of some orders. We were assured that the rest of the orders would be provided within a month. Finally we had to file an RTI application, which was rejected on the grounds that payment of Rs 10 RTI fee is not acceptable through postal order. The rejection also stated that if we wanted copies of orders, we should state the order nos and other details of each case, which we wanted. After a lot of persuasion and several ph calls, when we again visited them, we were provided with 1741 orders. We strangely received a letter in August stating that Mr Vijay Vergia alone had passed around 2269 orders! We have however, analyzed only 1741 orders received from them.

Central Information Commission

We were informed on phone that all their orders are on their website. We found only 7343 orders on their site. They claim to have passed 10,285 orders. We have analyzed only 7343 orders.

We have learnt that a large number of cases are rejected by the registry of CIC on technical grounds. However, in response to our RTI query, they said that they do not maintain such data. Interestingly, in the previous year, they had revealed in response to an RTI query filed by another RTI activist that almost 63% cases received at CIC were rejected on technical grounds.

Bihar

They provided us with copies of all their orders in hard copies.

Assam

Initially, the Commission said that their records upto 10.9.08 were destroyed in a fire. Later, the Commission sent us 220 orders stating that these were the only orders passed by the Commission during the entire 2008.

Arunachal Pradesh

They have provided us copies of all their orders in hard copies.

Andhra Pradesh

The Commission claims to have passed 3043 orders. They said all their orders are on their website. We found only 1699 orders on their site. We wrote to the Commission and also spoke to them. They said whatever orders exist are there on their website.

Maharashtra

In Maharashtra, records are maintained by each Commissioner separately:

Punjab

They said all their orders are on website. We have downloaded them. However, they have not responded to our letters and phone calls. Some commissioners have responded to our RTI query.