Only 4% of the govt departments proactively disclosing information under RTI: Survey

India’s first transparency audit has revealed only 4 per cent of the surveyed central ministries and departments have been proactively disclosing information to the citizens under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Under Section 4 of the transparency legislation, every government department has to voluntarily disclose information through annual reports and websites, which include directory of its officers, their remuneration, functions, list of beneficiaries of government schemes, minutes of board meetings and other updated information.

A transparency audit, conducted for Central Information Commission (CIC) by the Indian Law Institute has revealed that most of the public authorities have not been following the rulebook in maintaining public records and proactive disclosure.


Out of 2,023 public authorities registered with the transparency watchdog, 963 were surveyed on quality of information being disclosed by them.

The audit has found that 196—or 20% of the central ministries surveyed— had not made any disclosure under Section 4 of the RTI Act. A grading—A, B and lower—of quality of information provided was done in the audit.

Only 42—or 4%—were found to have provided satisfactory information to the citizens proactively. Another 241 were graded as B and remaining 484 were graded very poor at C.

An audit was undertaken on the basis of a proforma prepared by former information commissioners M M Ansari and A N Tiwari. The proforma included criteria such as has the ministry disclosed basic information like organisational chart, remuneration of its employees and overseas trips undertaken by employees, how many times information has been updated, and have files been declassified and put up on websites.

What depts need to do under Sec 4 of the RTI Act
* Maintain all records in a manner which facilitates the right to information and can be computerised within a reasonable time

* To provide information suomotu at regular intervals through various means of communications, including internet

* Publish particulars of its organisation, functions and duties, the decisionmaking process, a statement on its documents, consultation processes on its policies, details on subsidy programmes, the budget allocated to each of its agency