Despite over 7,000 pending appeals and complaints under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Haryana State Information Commission is operating with significant vacancies, including the post of chief information commissioner and seven of the ten sanctioned information commissioner positions.
The situation worsened last week when Chief Information Commissioner Vijai Vardhan, a former chief secretary of Haryana and retired IAS officer, along with Information Commissioner Satyaveer Singh Phulia, also a retired IAS officer, completed their three-year tenure on March 24.
Both had assumed their roles on March 25, 2022, under the then Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Presently, the commission comprises only three information commissioners: Jagbir Singh, Pradeep Kumar Shekhawat, and Kulbir Chhikara. Earlier this year, another information commissioner, Jyoti Arora, a former IAS officer, retired in January.
An RTI response received on February 11 by Panipat-based activist PP Kapoor revealed that in January 2023, 8,340 appeals were pending before the commission, including those before the chief information commissioner.
By December, the number had declined to 7,216. Kapoor estimated that it might take nearly eight years to resolve the backlog and accused the BJP government of attempting to weaken the RTI Act by delaying appointments.
Another RTI activist, Bhupinder Kumar from Yamunanagar, described the situation as "unprecedented" and criticized the state government for leaving the commission "lawaaris" (orphaned).
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He highlighted that the backlog of appeals and complaints regarding government departments' failure to disclose information was growing. Some appeals have been awaiting hearings for nearly a year, and in instances where hearings were scheduled, only a bench was mentioned without specifying the information commissioner’s name.
Kumar also questioned the lack of preparation despite prior knowledge of the chief information commissioner’s retirement on March 24. He pointed out that the government neither appointed a new chief information commissioner nor assigned additional charge to any existing commissioner, even though the secretary of the commission had officially requested action.
In a reminder letter dated March 24, to the chief secretary, the commission’s secretary stated that the chief information commissioner oversees the general superintendence, direction, and management of the commission.
Without a chief, the commission is facing an administrative crisis. The letter urged the government to assign the charge to senior information commissioner Pardeep Kumar Shekhawat, but no action has been taken so far.
Activist Kumar recalled that in past crises, senior information commissioners such as Urvashi Gulati and JS Kundu had been given charge in similar circumstances.
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However, the current political scenario complicates the appointment process, as the selection committee must include a leader of the Opposition. With the Congress party—the largest opposition group in the Haryana Assembly—yet to elect its legislative party leader, the selection process remains stalled.
The issue of a delayed appointment due to the absence of an opposition leader had been settled by the Supreme Court in January this year.
In a case concerning Jharkhand, a bench led by Justice Surya Kant ruled that the largest opposition group in the assembly could nominate one of its elected members to serve on the selection committee for the limited purpose of appointing the chief information commissioner and other commissioners.
A former state information commissioner, speaking anonymously, warned that the current situation would lead to prolonged delays for RTI litigants and hinder the process of justice.
He noted that each appointment could take nearly three months to finalise and described this as an unprecedented crisis, with both the chief information commissioner post and seven other key positions remaining vacant.
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