High Court Orders Telangana State Information Commission to Clear 404 RTI Appeals

The Telangana High Court in Hyderabad has directed the Telangana State Information Commission (TSIC) to issue fresh notices and dispose of 404 pending Right to Information (RTI) appeals and complaints within a strict three-month deadline.

Justice Surepalli Nanda passed the order while disposing of a writ petition filed by RTI activist Vaddam Shyam, who serves as the secretary of the Jana Telangana Rights Society.

Shyam approached the High Court alleging that the state information commission had failed to implement the court's earlier directions, which were issued on September 18, 2025, regarding a connected matter.

According to the petitioner, he had filed numerous RTI applications in the public interest. However, 404 of his second appeals and complaints remained pending before the commission. This backlog accumulated after various public authorities either completely denied the requested information, provided incomplete answers, or failed to respond to his queries.

Shyam contended that despite the High Court's previous directions, the commission had failed to take action. The TSIC had neither issued fresh notices to him nor listed his pending cases for hearings. Furthermore, Shyam stated that his subsequent representations and a separate RTI application seeking details of the commission's compliance had elicited no effective response.

The dispute traces back to an earlier case where the High Court had intervened to set aside a previous TSIC notice. In that instance, the commission had proposed to take up and hear all 404 of Shyam's pending matters on a single day. The court rejected this approach because the commission had failed to furnish necessary case-by-case details for the hearings.

With the latest ruling, the High Court has mandated that the TSIC must systematically hear and resolve all 404 pending RTI cases within the designated three-month timeframe, ensuring proper procedure is followed for each individual appeal and complaint.