The Report Card on the Performance of Information Commissions in India, 2023-24 brought out by Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) in October 2024 reveals that the State Information Commission (SIC) of Bihar has not published its annual report since 2017-18 i.e. for more than 6 years during the tenure of the previous State Chief Information Commissioners of Bihar, namely Narendra Kumar Sinha, ex-IAS (2020-September 2023) and Ashok Kumar Sinha, ex-IAS (2015-2019). Bihar SIC does not maintain crucial information about the show cause notices were issued to PIOs under the penalty clause of the Right to Information Act, 2005. It imposed penalty in only 59 cases. The total amount of penalty imposed by SIC during July 2023-June 2024) was Rs 13,30,000.
The details of penalty imposed under Section 20(1) of the RTI Act for period 2025-2023 are available at https://sic.bih.nic.in/documents/Penalty/BIC_Penalty_Report_2015to2023.pdf and https://sic.bih.nic.in/documents/Penalty/Penalty_BIC_2020to2023.pdf
The SIC of Bihar returned 11,807 appeals/complaints which is more than what it registered during the same period – 10,548. Out of 10,548 appeals and complaints registered, it disposed of 5,540 appeals and complaints disposed by passing orders during July 1, 2023-June 30, 2024. The Bihar SIC has been functioning with just 3 commissioners(Chief + 2 commissioners) even though it has a backlog of more than 25,101 appeals and complaints. The assessment shows that the estimated waiting time for an appeal/complaint to be disposed by the Bihar SIC is 4 years and 6 months.
Using data on the backlog of cases in the State Information Commission and its monthly rate of disposal for 2023-2024, the time it would take to dispose an appeal/complaint filed with an Information Commission on July 1, 2024 was computed (assuming appeals and complaints are disposed in a chronological order). For Bihar, the estimated time for disposal would be 4 and a half years.
On April 4, 2022, Bihar Governor had administered the oath of office to Phool Chandra Choudhary, a retired Bihar judicial officer and Tripurari Sharan, a retired IAS officer as Information Commissioners of the state. Bihar State Information Commission is a statutory body, which was established in June 2006 under Section 15 of the Right to Information Act, 2005. There are three posts of Information Commissioner in addition to the Chief Information Commissioner in the Bihar State Information Commission. The first Chief Information Commissioner of the State was Justice Shashank Kumar Singh (2006-2008). Justice Singh was a retired judge of Patna High Court. He was judge of the High Court during 1990-2005. After that only IAS officers have been deemed qualified for the post.
Notably, some 90 cases against the Bihar SIC are pending before the Supreme Court and High Court filed during 2008-2023.
The Report Card of 2023 had revealed that Bihar SIC functioned with just 2 commissioners for the several months even though it has a backlog of more than 28,000 appeals and complaints. The Bihar SICs returned a large number of appeals/complaints without passing any orders during the period July 2022 to June 30, 2023. The SIC of Bihar returned 14,304 appeals/complaints which is more than what it registered during the same period – 12,063. Comparative data from the previous assessment for the SIC Bihar had shown significant increase in the backlog of appeals/complaints since June 2022. The estimated time required for disposal of appeal/complaint for appeal/complaint filed on July 1, 2022 was 2 years and 2 months. For appeal/complaint filed on July 1, 2023 was 2 years and 4 months. The SICs of Bihar stated that it does not maintain information regarding total show cause notices issued to PIOs under the penalty clause of the RTI Act. The SICs of Bihar has stated that data on the number of cases in which disciplinary action was recommended is not maintained by it. The assessment found that Bihar IC did not use its power to award compensation. The SIC of Bihar does not upload its orders or do not allow public access to the orders on their website. Since its inception Bihar never ever had a woman information commissioner.
The current Chief Information Commissioner of the State Tripurari Sharan was administered the oath of office as the State Chief Information Commissioner by Bihar Governor on December 28, 2023 but the web link which provides brief profile of the present State Chief Information Commissioner of Bihar is non-functional. Prior to this Bihar SIC has been functioning without a Chief Information Commissioner since May 2023.
The web link which provides brief profile of present State Information Commissioners of Bihar is functional. It provides details about Prakash Kumar, a journalist who has been appointed as one of the State Information Commissioners but it does not provide details about Tripurari Sharan. It is hoped that the new CIC of Bihar will make BIC website fully functional and set matters right in all aspects.
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