Over 22,000 complaints pending with CIC: Govt

New Delhi: Over 22,000 second appeals and complaints were pending with the Central Information Commission as on December 5, 2022, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.

The CIC is mandated to deal with second appeals and complaints filed by RTI applicants in case they are aggrieved with the responses provided to them by government departments.

Of the total pendency of 22,442, 19,178 were second appeals and 3,264 complaints, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in reply to a written question.

To a question on whether the government was aware of cases where personal information of some RTI applicants have been made public, the minister said the Centre has from time to time issued guidelines or office memorandums "bringing to notice of all ministries/departments of government of India that personal information of an RTI applicant should not be disclosed".

Section 8(1) (j) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 provides that it is not obligatory for public information officers to give any information to citizens which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information, Singh said.