RTI cases on COVID-19: Madras High Court to hear plea for constitution of Special Bench of Information Commission

The Madras High Court today agreed to hear on Wednesday a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) calling for the constitution of a Special Bench of the concerned Information Commission to deal with Right to Information (RTI) requests related to information on the COVID-19 pandemic (Saurav Das v. Union of India and ors). .Appearing for petitioner Saurav Das, Advocate MV Swaroop mentioned the matter before the Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy this morning. .While the matter has not been heard for several months, the counsel informed the Court that there is a lot of crucial information pertaining to COVID-19 languishing with the Central Information Commission (CIC). He also highlighted that the information sought concerns life and liberty. .The matter was earlier heard by the Bench of Justices SS Sundresh and R Hemalatha and later by the Bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and R Hemalatha..The plea filed in 2020 calls for guidelines to fix a timeline for deciding on first and second appeals and complaints filed under the RTI Act, particularly with respect to information sought concerning life and liberty. It is stated that various courts, including the Supreme Court, have acknowledged that the RTI Act is a time-bound legislation..In the absence of fixed timelines, the pendency of cases before the State and Central Information Commissions have become unmanageable, the petitioner has submitted.."... on August 6, 2020, there are a total of 35737 cases pending before the 3rd Respondent (CIC), and these include 4804 complaints and 30933 appeals. The Commission does not maintain separate records of matters pertaining to 'life and liberty', which further shows that these are not treated as a separate class of cases at all. The situation is very unorganized in the 4th Respondent (TNSIC) as it has not furnished the statistics even under RTI," the petition states further. .Additionally, the petitioner has also called for the constitution of Special Benches of the Central and State Information Commissions for COVID-19 and all pandemic-related cases so that the same may be disposed of expeditiously, preferably within 15 days..In earlier hearings, the Court had taken note of the counsel's submission that the proviso to Sub-Section 1 of Section 7 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 lays down that ''where the information sought for concerns the life or liberty of a person, the same shall be provided within forty-eight hours of the receipt of the request.'' .However, the proviso is hardly implemented, the Court was informed. In this regard, the petitioner has submitted,".... the authorities very rarely provide information within 48 hours in cases concerning life and liberty. The difficulties are further heightened by the fact that there is no separate procedure in place to accept applications concerning life and liberty and therefore as per Section 6(3) the nodal officer can take upto 5 days to transfer the RTI to the PIO, defeating the very purpose of the 48 hour deadline.".It is highlighted in the petition that matters of health, crime, detention, police actions, privacy, policy actions having direct and immediate consequences on individuals/public at large would all come within the ambit of matters affecting life and liberty. Pertinently, cases concerning coronavirus and pandemic-related issues would also come under this category as per the CIC, it is pointed out..Even so, the petitioner has contended that he has come across several petitions that genuinely concern life and liberty, which have taken over 30 days to dispose of. ."These applications, by their nature, need to be dealt with immediately, since they could have a bearing on the existence of a person or her fundamental right to life or liberty. Parliament, having recognised this vital distinction, has put it in a separate category in the proviso to section 7(1) of the Act and given it a far tighter deadline of 48 hours from the receipt of the application", the petitioner further states..In Tamil Nadu, the State Information Commission's functioning has also not inspired confidence, the plea states. In this regard, the petitioner refers to a Citizen's report published by the NGO Arappor Iyakkam, which found that there is no method followed by the State Commission to hear second appeal and complaint cases."Unlike the CIC, TNSIC cases are heard randomly, with few cases heard after 15 months and a few within 3 months. There is also no mechanism provided for tracking the status of the appeals before the 4th Respondent Commission (TNSIC)," the petition states. .The petitioner goes on to urge for the constitution of a Special Bench of the Information Commission to deal with COVID-19 related RTI requests. ."in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic and the pressing need for speedy information, it is reiterated that the difficulties are further heightened by the fact that there is no separate procedure in place to accept applications concerning life and liberty and therefore as per Section 6(3), the nodal officer can take up to 5 days to transfer the RTI to the PIO, defeating the very purpose of the 48 hour deadline. In such cases relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, I submit that a special bench may be constituted at the Commission level, such that these time-sensitive cases may be heard on a priority basis and in accordance with the urgency afforded to life and liberty cases in the spirit of the legislation," the petition reads..[Read the Order passed last December]