Expressing concern over the considerable delay in providing replies to petitions filed under the Right to Information Act, 2005, the Tamil Nadu Information Commission has urged the State government to facilitate online management of RTI applications/responses in all the Departments of Secretariat, offices of the Heads of Departments and District Collectorates.
In a letter to the Chief Secretary, the then Chief Information Commissioner said that the process of filing RTI petitions through online mode had commenced, though not effectively, in the Departments of Secretariat and some District Collectorates. However, there was a lot of confusion in that process which in turn caused considerable delay in furnishing replies by the Public Information Officers to the petitioners.
During the enquiry before the Commission, the PIOs had expressed difficulty in handling the RTI petitions online. “This requires urgent attention so that the prescribed time limit of 30 days in the RTI Act for furnishing of reply by the PIOs can be strictly adhered to,” the then CIC Md. Shakeel Akhter said in his letter sent days before his retirement from service last month.
Complaints of delay
He said filing of petitions under Section 6(1) and first appeals under Section 19(1) of the RTI Act, 2005, in all the Departments of Secretariat, HODs/District Collectorates had not been achieved so far and because of that a lot of petitioners complained on this issue when they attended the enquiry in the Commission. Mr. Akhter was appointed as CIC in June 2023 and he held the post for three years.
“It is high time steps are taken to make filing of petitions under Section 6(1) and first appeals under Section 19(1) through online for all the Departments of Secretariat, HODs/District Collectorates,” he said.
Mr. Akhter said the Act was enacted with the preamble to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority in order to strengthen the core constitutional values. It meant harmonising the conflicting interests of governance to preserve the confidentiality of sensitive information and the rights of citizens to know the functioning of government processes in such a way as to preserve the paramountcy of the democratic ideal.
He said the link to the official website of the Commission could be provided to the website management for information of all stakeholders so that anybody could file petitions under the Act through the link apart from the existing working process.
Proactive disclosure
In his earlier communication, Mr. Akhter drew the attention of the State government to Section 4(2) of the Act which emphasised on providing much information suo motu to the people at regular intervals through various means of communication, including internet, so that applicants made minimum use of this Act to obtain information.
Published – July 09, 2026 02:04 am IST
