Parliament Question: Evaluating effectiveness of RTI act

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS (DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL & TRAINING) RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3164 (ANSWERED ON 19.03.2026) EVALUATING EFFECTIVENESS OF RTI ACT 3164. SHRI SANT BALBIR SINGH: Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state: (a) whether Government is aware that the Right to Information Act, 2005, enacted to promote transparency and accountability in governance, is reportedly facing challenges such as frequent denial of information, incomplete or evasive replies and rejection of applications on technical grounds; (b) whether any assessment or review has been conducted by Government to evaluate the present effectiveness of RTI framework at Central and State levels; and (c) the number of RTI applications filed, disposed of and rejected during the last five years, year-wise, along with major grounds for rejection? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH) (a) and (c): If an applicant does not receive the reply in response to the RTI application within the prescribed time-limit or is aggrieved by a decision of the Public Information Officer (PIO), the applicant may prefer an appeal before the First Appellate Authority and a Second Appeal lies before the Central Information Commission (CIC). Further, in case, where an applicant, who believes that an incomplete, misleading or false information has been furnished by the PIO, can raise a complaint directly with the Central Information Commission (CIC)/State Information Commission (SIC), as the case may be. The data on RTI applications received, replied and rejected along with the reasons of rejection, in respect of Public Authorities in Central Government, are available in the Annual Report of the CIC, for the respective years, which can be accessed at https://cic.gov.in/circular-reports-conventions. The rejection rate of RTI applications, in percentage, has come down to 3.26% in the year 2024-25 from 7.21% in the year 2013-14. (b): Assessment and review to evaluate the effectiveness of RTI Act framework is an ongoing process. Guidelines have been issued by the Government on conducting third-party transparency audit of proactive/suo-moto disclosures undertaken by the concerned Public Authorities. The CIC monitors the progress of transparency audit and pursues with all the Public Authorities to undertake the Audit. *****