30,000 appeals pending before State Information Commissioners, case is before High Court and Supreme Court

In Praween Kumar vs. The State of Bihar (2026), Patna High Court's Division Bench of Chief Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Harish Kumar passed an order dated April 16, 2026, wherein, it concluded that in view of the submissions led by learned counsel for the State, the Supreme Court directed the State of Bihar to consider the desirability of a suitable increase in the sanctioned strength, keeping in view the pendency of almost 30,000 appeals, and to file a response in that regard before the next date of hearing, which was fixed for April 28, 2026. 5. Considering the fact, the matter is sub judice before the Hon’ble Supreme Court, list this matter on 18.06.2026, on which date both the learned counsel shall apprise this Court of the status of Miscellaneous Application No. 1979 of 2019."

The writ petition in the nature of Public Interest Litigation was filed by petitioner-Praween Kumar seeking issuance of a Writ of Continuing Mandamus directing the Respondent Authorities to clear the massive pendency of RTI application, and appeals in strict adherence to the timelines:

First Appeals: Strictly within the statutory limit of 45 days as mandated under Section 19(6) of the RTI Act; and Second Appeals: Within the timeline of 90 days (or such reasonable time as this Hon'ble Court deems fit), thereby enforcing the mandate of the Supreme Court in Anjali Bhardwaj vs. Union of India (2019) 18 SCC 246, which established that the timeline for disposal of appeals must be reasonable lest the Right to Information becomes a dead letter. 

It prayed for issuance of a direction to the State of Bihar to frame Executive Guidelines to ensure request”; Section 19(1), which deals with “Appeal”; and Section 19(3), which deals with “Second Appeal.” 

The submitted that, in view of Section 15 of the Right to Information Act 2005, on the recommendation of a Committee consisting of the Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and a Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Chief Minister, the Governor is required to appoint the State Chief Information Commissioner or State Information Commissioners, and it is stated that some posts are lying vacant. 

The Senior Counsel appearing for respondent nos. 3 and 4 submitted that a similar matter was before the Supreme Court in Anjali Bhardwaj vs. Union of India, reported in (2019) 18 SCC 246, which was disposed of vide order dated February 15, 2019. However, Miscellaneous Application No. 1979 of 2019 wad filed in the  case,and he produced a copy of the order dated February 10, 2026,which indicates that in the State of Bihar there are only four sanctioned posts of Chief Information Commissioner/Information Commissioners, out of which one post is lying vacant. State counsel informed the Court that an advertisement was issued in December 2025, and the selection process was likely to be finalized by the end of February 2026. Consequently, the available vacancies will be filled up within a period of two months. So far the process has not been finalised.