The main legal point established in the judgment is the constitutional significance of access to justice and technology in ensuring the right to information, as well as the legislative intention of the RTI Act and the duties and powers of Information Commissions.

ORDER :

1. The petitioner invokes the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking directions for the better functioning of the State Information Commissions,¹[“SIC”] under the Right to Information Act, 2005.,²[“RTI Act”] It is stated that the SICs, along with the Central Information Commission,³[“CIC”] play a pivotal role in the proper implementation of the RTI Act. However, most of the SICs are located in the capital cities of the States and conduct proceedings physically. The petitioner asserts that this imposes prohibitive costs on applicants and appellants, especially those living in the remote areas, as they have to travel long distances to approach the SICs. Such bottlenecks in the functioning of the SICs deprive applicants and appellants from effectively exercising their right to information. Therefore, the petitioner urges that the SICs should allow the option of virtual hearings along with physical hearings.

2. The petitioner asserts that it is the legislative intention of Parliament in enacting the RTI Act to provide information to applicants at a reasonable expense. Virtual hearings further this legislative intention as they provide access to information to an applicant in a cost-effective manner. It has been further asserted that most SICs do not have the facility of online filing of RTI appeals and complaints similar to the CIC. Moreover, the petitioner urged that the SICs should adopt a user-friendly digital portal to make the functioning of the SICs more effective and productive.

3. On the basis of the averments, the petitioner has sought the reliefs as summarized below :

(i) SICs should hear complaints as well as second appeals by giving the option of both, physical and virtual hearing through a digital platform and the State Governments must support the SICs financially and technically to conduct virtual hearings;

(ii) SICs must update and have self-contained digital portals with online facilities for:

(a) filing RTI complaints and appeals;

(b) showing the case status of pending/decided matters;

(c) uploading daily orders and judgments;

(d) uploading cause lists; and

(e) uploading annual reports under Section 25 in line with Section 4(2).

(iii) SICs must be directed to dispose of the complaints within a fixed time frame, preferably within four months;

(iv) Norms be set up for disposal of a stipulated number of cases per working day by every Information Commissioner;

(v) SICs should prepare annual reports on the implementation of the provisions of the 2005 Act and provide them to the State Government under Section 25(1); and

(vi) SICs should ensure the imposition and recovery of penalties from erring information officers according to Section 20(1).

4. Notice was issued in these proceedings on 20 April 2021. Thereafter, the proceedings have been listed before this Court on 21 April 2023 and 10 July 2023.

5. The RTI Act was enacted to operationalize the rights of citizens to access information about the functioning of the government, which is otherwise only held by the government authorities. The legislation sets out a practical regime for citizens to secure access to information under the control of the public authorities, promote transparency and accountability in the functioning of public authorities, and constitute the CIC and SICs. Thus, the RTI Act pursues the legitimate state aim of ensuring transparent and accountable government.

6. In view of the stated objectives, Section 3 of the RTI Act provides that all citizens shall have the right to information. Section 2(j) defines right to information to mean the right to information accessible under the RTI Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and to include : (i) the right to inspection of work, documents records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified sample