Over 3.85 Lakh RTI Cases Pending in Information Commissions: What the 2025-26 Report Card Shows
A new edition of the annual Report Card on the Performance of Information Commissions in India (for 2025-26) has been released. This report card series is prepared by Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), a citizens' group that works on transparency.
It says 3,85,716 appeals and complaints were pending on June 30, 2026 in 28 information commissions (the Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions).
In the previous report (2025), the pending figure was 4,13,972. So the backlog has fallen by about 28,000 cases, but it is still very large.
Information commissions are the "courts" of the Right to Information (RTI) system. If a government office refuses information or does not reply, the citizen finally goes to the commission. A long queue there means people wait months or even years for information they have a legal right to get.
Earlier editions of the report card have pointed to the same problems again and again: vacant posts of commissioners, some commissions working without a chief, very long waiting times, and penalties rarely being imposed on officers who break the law.
Information Commissions (CIC and SICs): Structure, Powers and Independence
Information commissions are the bodies that make sure the Right to Information (RTI) law actually works. When a government office refuses to give you information, or simply does not reply, you can go to an information commission. The commission hears your case, orders the office to give the information if the law allows it, and can even fine the officer who broke the law. There is one Central Information Commission (CIC) for central government offices, and a State Information Commission (SIC) for each state's offices.
The 2025-26 report card counts how many second appeals and complaints are waiting before these commissions. A backlog of 3,85,716 cases on June 30, 2026 shows that, even with a small improvement over 2025, the "umpire" of the RTI system is still overloaded. Vacancies, slow disposal and rare penalties, all discussed above, are the main reasons studies give for this backlog.
Right to Information Act, 2005
The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 is the law that lets any Indian citizen ask a government office for information and get a reply within a fixed time. It turned government files, which were earlier mostly secret, into records that citizens can check. Its aim is to make government transparent (open) and accountable (answerable to the people). Information commissions are the bodies that enforce this law.
Every one of the 3,85,716 pending cases began as an RTI request under this Act. When requests are refused or ignored, they move up the ladder to the commissions. So the size of the backlog is a direct measure of how well this law is working on the ground.
- Report: Report Card on the Performance of Information Commissions in India, 2025-26 (by Satark Nagrik Sangathan)
- Pending appeals and complaints on June 30, 2026: 3,85,716 in 28 information commissions
- Pending figure in the previous (2025) report: 4,13,972; fall of about 28,000 cases
- RTI Act, 2005 in force from 12 October 2005
- CIC: 1 Chief + up to 10 Information Commissioners; appointed by the President (Section 12(3))
- SIC: 1 State Chief + up to 10 State Information Commissioners; appointed by the Governor (Section 15)
- RTI (Amendment) Act, 2019: term reduced to 3 years by rules; salary and term now set by the central government
- Penalty on PIO: ₹250 per day, maximum ₹25,000 (Section 20)
- Second appeal deadline: 90 days (Section 19(3))