Consider if State and Central Information Commissions can take up RTI cases on COVID-19 for at least 3-4 hours daily: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the concerned authorities to consider whether Benches of the State and Central Information Commissions can take up Right to Information (RTI) cases concerning the COVID-19 pandemic on a daily basis for at least 3-4 hours a day. .The Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy has further directed the State authorities to communicate its decision on this issue within a week from the date of the order to the petitioner. The Central Information Commission (CIC) has been directed to communicate its decision within a week of receipt of the order. "It may do well for the State and the Centre to consider whether, particularly, during the present COVID crisis, Benches of the State Information Commission and Central Information Commission can take up matters on the virtual mode upon indicating an e-filing system to deal with COVID-related matters and information atl east for 3 or 4 hours a day," reads the order passed yesterday..The Court has also cautioned, "At the same time, citizens should be careful in not diverting the attention of an employee from his main duties to attend to RTI queries only.".The Court was dealing with two petitions moved by Saurav Das raising concern that RTI queries on matters concerning life and liberty, including RTI cases related to COVID-19, were not being disposed of expeditiously by the Information Commissions. As such, the petitioner had also sought for the constitution of Special Benches of the Information Commissions to deal with COVID-19 related RTI queries expeditiously. .RTI cases on COVID-19: Madras High Court to hear plea for constitution of Special Bench of Information Commission.It was pointed out that the proviso to Section 7 (1) of the RTI Act also required that such RTI cases concerning life and liberty ought to be disposed of within 30 days. Further, it was highlighted that this timeline was not maintained when it comes to the first appeal or second appeal stage. ."On an average, it takes about 18 months for CIC to dispose of an appeal. These appeals do not require detailed legal arguments....There must be stricter timeline at first appeal and second appeal stage," Advocate MV Swaroop argued on behalf of the petitioner yesterday..In the absence of the Act indicating any timeline for the disposal of such appeals, it was argued further that the Court ought to interpret the law to mean that such appeals should be disposed of within a reasonable time. In this regard, Advocate Swaroop also pointed out that the Calcutta High Court and the Karnataka High Court had interpreted such reasonable period to mean 45 days. .Pertinently, the petitioner points out that RTI requests concerning the COVID-19 pandemic also fall under the category of life and liberty cases. "These RTIs have to be disposed of in a more expeditious manner.. RTIs may be regarding vaccine rollout, beds… all these RTIs are time-sensitive...information will become stale, if not given expeditiously," Advocate Swaroop pointed out. .Appearing for the State Information Commission (SIC) at Tamil Nadu, Advocate Niranjan Rajagopalan pointed out that the SIC has constituted a Bench meant to deal only with RTI cases, which sits on Tuesdays. He informed the Court that this has been in practice for almost a year now. .After hearing all submissions in the matter, the Court has directed both the CIC and SIC authorities to take a call on whether COVID-19 related RTI queries can be taken up on a daily basis and communicate their decision to the petitioner. The Bench proceeded to dispose of the matter..Advocate Swaroop also urged the Court to keep the matter pending in as much as it concerns the need for laying down stricter timelines to dispose of RTI appeals concerning urgent matters. However, the Court confined to recording that the petitioner can make a representation to the Central government to introduce appropriate provisions in the RTI Act on this issue. "No writ of mandamus can be issued to direct any legislation or even to incorporate an amendment," the Court said.