When the Right to Information Act was enacted on October 12, 2005, India took a historic step toward democratic accountability. The law was born from a grassroots movement led by civil society champions like Aruna Roy and the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), who argued that transparency was not a privilege but a citizen’s right. For a while, it worked as intended. Public Information Officers were compelled to release records long buried in bureaucratic vaults, information commissions functioned as independent tribunals, and corruption was exposed across sectors. For millions of Indians, the RTI became the people’s weapon — cheap, quick, and effective.

A Promise Betrayed: The Rise of Apathy and Delay

Two decades later, that optimism has faded. The law, once hailed as India’s “sunshine legislation,” now lies battered by neglect, manipulation, and indifference. What began as a democratic revolution has been reduced to a mere formality. Across the Central and State Information Commissions, over four lakh appeals and complaints are pending. By mid-2024, the total backlog stood at 4, 05,000 — an alarming indicator of institutional decay. In several states such as Jharkhand, Telangana, Goa, and Tripura, commissions have remained headless for months or even years. Others are functionally paralysed. Some states would take two decades to clear their current caseloads at existing disposal rates — a mockery of the 30-day limit prescribed by law.

Political Design and Bureaucratic Evasion

This collapse is neither accidental nor inevitable. It is a calculated mix of bureaucratic inertia and political design. Vacancies in the Central Information Commission are allowed to persist; state governments starve their commissions of funds and staff. Appointment processes are opaque and dominated by the executive, eroding the independence of commissioners. What was conceived as a watchdog of governance has been converted into a toothless appendage.

Failure on the Ground: PIOs and Penalties

At the operational level, the rot is equally deep. Public Information Officers routinely ignore or delay responses. Many fail even to acknowledge applications within the 30-day period. Those who reply often provide evasive or incomplete information. The law empowers commissions to penalise errant officials, yet penalties are imposed in fewer than five........

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