Backlog of Almost 4 Lakh Appeals with Indian Information Commissions as per the Latest Satark Nagrik Sangathan Report

 

A total of 3,85,716 appeals and complaints made under the RTI Act 2005, are pending for disposal in the information commissions across the country as of  June 30, 2026, including the State Information Commissions (SIC) and the Central Information Commission (CIC) as per the Satark Nagrik Sangathan’s annual report on the Performance of Information Commissions (IC) for the year 2025-26.

Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) run by RTI activists Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri publishes an annual report each year “to undertake monitoring of the performance of information commissions across the country, with the objective of improving the functioning of commissions and strengthening the RTI regime”.

The latest report is based on the analysis of information accessed by SNS under the RTI act from 29 information commissions across the country for the period between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026.

As per the information made available by the various commissions across the country, there were 3,85,716 appeals and complaints pending in the information commissions as of June 30, 2026. Highest number of appeals were pending in Maharashtra at 77,397 or 20% of the total number of pending appeals and least in Mizoram and Sikkim with none. 

Backlog of Appeals & Complaints in Information Commissions (Source: SNS Report)

The report also provides data on the number of appeals and complaints filed between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026 with commissions and those disposed by them, including the ones pending from before.

Appeals and complaints registered and disposed by Information Commissions July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. (Source: SNS Report)

Based on the monthly disposal rate of appeals computed for the 2025-26 period and the backlog of appeals in respective commissions, the SNS report has estimated how long would an appeal filed on July 1, 2026 take to be disposed. The report suggests that the Tripura Information Commission might take the longest time i.e. 19 years and 8 months while Madhya Pradesh Information Commission might take 19 years and 2 months based on their respective current monthly disposal rates. As Mizoram and Sikkim have no pending appeals, these commissions might take the shortest time. The Central Information Commission as per the report would take 2 years and 3 months for the same.  

Appeals/complaints Returned by Commissions Without Passing Orders July 1, 2025 & June 30, 2026. (Source: SNS Report)

The report suggests that the two main reasons for long delays in disposal are vacancies in commissions and slow rate of disposal by commissioners. The report cites the Supreme Court’s order from October 2023 regarding vacancies in information commissions, which said “Effectively, the State governments by failing to fill up the vacancies are ensuring the right to information which is recognised under an Act of Parliament becomes a dead letter.”

Besides a total of 37,701 appeals and complaints were returned by the information commissions across the country without passing any orders between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026 based on the data made available to the SNS as per the report. Some Information Commissions did not provide the requested information in this regard as per the report. The CIC returned the highest, 14603 appeals out of a total 31,179 appeals filed, i.e. one third of the appeals made during this period. Maharashtra Information Commission returned 14,410 appeals out of a total of 55,201 appeals filed, i.e. 20% of the appeals filed.

SNS states in its report, “National assessments have shown that a large number of RTI applications emanate from urban poor and from rural households seeking information about their basic entitlements. In this context, the practice being followed by the CIC and some SICs, of returning a very large number of appeals and complaints without passing any orders, becomes extremely problematic. It also creates an apprehension that this is perhaps a way of frustrating information seekers in a bid to reduce backlogs in ICs since many people, especially the poor and marginalised, would feel discouraged and often give up if their appeal/complaint is returned”.

All the information given in this video is cited from the Satark Nagrik Sangathan’s report titled “Report Card on the Performance of Information Commissions in India, 2025-26 (Key Findings)”.