State Information Commission’s Annual Report Published Wrong Data As SRA Mumbai Fails To Submit Data

Mumbai: The 18th annual report of the state information commission (SIC) misreported the data about the right to information (RTI) applications received by the Mumbai slum rehabilitation authority (SRA) even after a significant delay in preparing the report. The report for the year 2023 shows nil applications as the slum authority failed to provide the information to the state housing department.

In October 2024, The Free Press Journal reported that SIC had severely delayed the publishing of the 17th and 18th annual reports for 2022 and 2023 respectively. Activists Kamlakar Shenoy and Mehul Haria had written to the chief information commissioner raising questions about the delay.

The 18th annual report was tabled before both houses of the legislature on July 3, a year after the committed date of June 30, 2024. Haria, a accountant and a transparency activist, has alleged that the report misrepresents facts as it under-reported the actual number of RTI applications filed in the year 2023.

The report, under form 2E, shows that SRA Mumbai received zero RTI applications during the period from January 1, 2023 to December 1, 2023. However, the activist claimed that he had filed 12 applications seeking various information from the department during that period and many of which have also proceeded to second appeals before the state information commission. He alleged that the misreporting confirms that the actual number of RTI applications received by SRA is significantly higher than what is reported.

He alleged that incorrect reporting is contrary to the mandate of Section 25 of the RTI Act, 2005, which requires the annual report to contain true and complete information about RTI applications received, disposed, rejected, and pending. He also added that it goes against the good governance manual issued by the Maharashtra government’s general administration department.

Notably, SRA Mumbai’s parent authority housing department said on July 7, in reply to Haria’s RTI application, that they have not received any information from the slum authority regarding the RTI applications. The RTI activist has now written to the state’s chief secretary regarding the misreporting and has also sought his time to discuss the issues of public accountability.

“This raises serious questions about the quality of internal monitoring and the accountability mechanisms followed while submitting statutory data, especially when the publication of such data is a cornerstone of transparency and public trust. There is an urgent need for corrective measures: the annual report must be revised with verified data, and secretariat departments should be directed to take stricter action against erring public authorities,” said Haria, adding that the 19th annual report for the year 2024 should have been published as of July 2025.

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