Over 3.85 million pending cases in 28 information commissions as of June 2026: report

According to an annual report by the NGO Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), more than 3.85 million cases are pending in 28 information commissions across India, with 14 commissions having an estimated waiting time of one year or more.

“Report on the Performance of Information Commissions in India 2025–2026” states that the number of appeals and complaints pending in 28 information commissions as on 30 June 2026 was 3,85,716. Data for Meghalaya State Information Commission (SIC) was not available for the specific period at the time of compilation. The number of pending complaints as of June 30, 2025 in 29 information commissions was 4,13,972.

Maharashtra SIC had the highest number of appeals and complaints pending in the country at 77,397, followed by Chhattisgarh SIC with 52,559 (as on 10 December 2025), Bihar with 42,243 and Central Information Commission (CIC) with 39,121 (compared to 23 June 2023).

Maharashtra recorded the highest number of appeals and complaints (55,201), followed by CIC (31,179), Uttar Pradesh (30,258), Tamil Nadu (22,946) and Karnataka (20,952). Maharashtra disposed of the highest number of cases (54,985), followed by SICs of Karnataka (38,656), Tamil Nadu (23,808) and Uttar Pradesh (21,528) and CIC (17,319).

Of the 23 commissions that provided relevant information, nine returned appeals/complaints without issuing any orders between July 2025 and June 30, 2026, the report said. “CIC returned 14,603 appeals/complaints while registering 31,179 during the period under review,” he said.

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“The estimated time taken to resolve appeals/complaints at CIC was found to be 2 years and 3 months,” the report said, attributing the delay to vacancies in commissions and a “lagged rate” of decommissioning.

Jharkhand SIC did not dispose of any appeals/complaints during the period under review. “Jharkhand SIC has also stopped registering fresh appeals/complaints,” he said.

“The Himachal Pradesh SIC is defunct from 3 July 2025, until the publication of these findings (October 2026). The Rajasthan SIC… stated that the information is available in the annual report, however the annual reports for the period under review (July 2025 to June 2026) have not yet been published.”

Published – 12 Oct 2026 23:04 IST