The Supreme Court has instructed both the Central government and state governments to address the vacancies in the Central Information Commission (CICs) and state information commissions (SICs). The court expressed concern that failing to do so would render the 2005 Right to Information Act ineffective.

A panel consisting of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, has additionally directed the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to gather data from all states concerning various aspects such as the approved capacity of state information commissions (SICs), existing job openings, and the overall count of pending cases within these commissions.

"The Right to Information Act of 2005 will lose its effectiveness," the Chief Justice of India (CJI) remarked in response to the information that state information commissions (SICs) in states like Jharkhand, Tripura, and Telangana have ceased to function.

The Supreme Court has given both states and the Central government a three-week timeframe to provide the requested information, and the court has scheduled a hearing for the petition filed by RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj after this period.

Bhardwaj claimed that the Supreme Court's 2019 ruling on matters related to the prompt appointment of officials to fill vacancies in the Central Information Commission (CIC) and state information commissions (SICs) has not been adhered to by both the Central government and the state governments.