Sat Feb 15 05:00:46 UTC 2025: ## Haryana’s Information Commission Drowning in Backlog, Millions in Penalties Unrecovered
**Gurugram, February 15, 2025** – Over 7,000 appeal cases are pending before the Haryana State Information Commission (SIC), according to a Right to Information (RTI) reply. This significant backlog reveals a critical flaw in the implementation of the Right to Information Act in the state.
The RTI application, filed by Panipat resident P.P. Kapoor, revealed that while the number of pending cases has decreased slightly from 8,340 in January 2024 to 7,216 in December 2024, the SIC’s pace of resolution suggests it will take another 7-8 years to clear the backlog. Mr. Kapoor criticized this slow progress, claiming the government is deliberately undermining the RTI Act, a crucial tool for ensuring transparency and accountability.
Further compounding the issue is the recovery of penalties imposed on State Public Information Officers (SPIOs) for delays in information dissemination. While the SIC has levied ₹5.86 crore in penalties in 3,611 cases since 2005, only ₹2.84 crore—less than half—has been recovered. This represents a significant loss of public funds. In addition, despite spending ₹128 crore on salaries and expenses, a paltry ₹2.49 lakh has been allocated to raising public awareness about the RTI Act over two decades, with the last awareness workshop held in 2011.
The SIC’s response also revealed a lack of readily available data on the number of appointed SPIOs and First Appellant Authority officials, and the number who have received training on the Act. Mr. Kapoor expressed concern over this lack of transparency and called for the government to take decisive action to address the backlog, recover outstanding penalties, and publicly release details of the officials concerned. Attempts to obtain a comment from the Chief Information Commissioner remained unsuccessful.
First Piper 