BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Information Commission has significantly reduced pendency of appeals and complaints from 22,611 to 14,000 in the last seven months.
Case pendency had risen substantially due to limited hearing during the Covid-19 pandemic and later as the panel functioned with only two information commissioners. After the new government was formed, four additional information commissioners, including state chief information commissioner were appointed in April 2025, which expedited the case disposal process.
Chief information commissioner Manoj Parida said the commission is holding hearings throughout the week to expedite the disposal of pending cases. A special drive has been undertaken to adjudicate all pending cases and frequent adjournments are discouraged. Priority is given to individual information seekers rather than those who had filed multiple cases on the same subject. The number of adjudication via video-conferencing has increased too. The commission is reviewing its disposal rate every week, he added.
In the last few months, the commission passed several landmark judgements. In one such judgement, Parida directed the OPSC to provide interview marks to each candidate in every test conducted by it. Parida said the commission has targeted to reduce the case pendency to only a few thousands by the end of next year so that the waiting period for applicants seeking information does not exceed 30 days. It has also imposed fines amounting to Rs 1.47 crore against erring officials and recommended disciplinary action against 1,857 officials. About Rs 16 lakh compensation was awarded.
The chief information commissioner has written a letter to the chief secretary requesting to ask the district collectors to review disposal of RTI matters once in every quarter. The commission has also directed all the departments to upload basic data voluntarily on their websites so that the number of RTI applications can be reduced.