Congress leader and prominent member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly, Sukhpal Khaira, has strongly criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab for its alleged efforts to undermine the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.
Khaira claims that the AAP-led administration has systematically denied public access to crucial information over the past three years.
Khaira accused the government of appointing only four RTI State Information Commissioners, contrary to the Act’s requirement of at least ten. This shortage, he pointed out, has resulted in a backlog of nearly 18,000 pending appeals at the State Information Commission.
“The AAP supremo, Arvind Kejriwal, was once an RTI activist. In 2006, Kejriwal was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his work with the Parivartan movement, using the RTI to fight corruption. But now, his party’s government in Punjab is doing exactly the opposite. AAP in Punjab has been bent upon stifling the information by undermining the RTI Act,” Khaira said.
"Arvind Kejriwal and his government in Punjab have killed the spirit of RTI ACT 2005 by denying information to people during the last 3 years of their rule," he lamented.
Khaira further accused the government of instructing Commissioners to waive penalties previously imposed on Public Information Officers (PIOs) for failing to comply with RTI regulations.
He also alleged that RTI activists who continued their pursuit for information were being subjected to intimidation.
These concerns have been echoed by the Punjab Youth Congress (PYC), which revealed that, as of June 30, 2024, there were 9,175 RTI applications pending disposal, with all ten posts of Information Commissioners remaining vacant.
PYC President Mohit Mohindra accused the AAP government of deliberately delaying information to conceal its actions from the public.
Opposition leader Partap Singh Bajwa also condemned the AAP government’s stance, accusing it of deliberately eroding the RTI Act.
Bajwa noted that between June 2023 and June 2024, 15,847 RTI applications were filed online, yet no department provided the requested information within the mandated one-month period.
"One of the biggest contributions of former Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to the country was the RTI Act 2005. The idea was to make the govts accountable to the people. However, the AAP govt in Punjab is trying its best to do away with this idea brutally," Bajwa maintained.
He further pointed out that the Department of Home Affairs and Justice, headed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, was among the worst offenders in terms of providing information under the Act.
In response to mounting criticism, the Punjab government appointed three new State Information Commissioners—Bhupinder Singh, Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, and Virinderjit Singh Billing—in August 2024.
However, despite these appointments, the commission continues to face challenges, including a significant backlog of cases and vacancies in key positions.
Inderpal Singh remains the current Chief Information Commissioner of the Punjab Information Commission. The newly appointed State Information Commissioners will serve for a term of three years.
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