Indian Express: Bengaluru: Wednesday, 30th
September 2026.
The Karnataka High Court has directed that details of penalties and disciplinary action taken against officers who failed to provide RTI information should be uploaded online.
The Karnataka High Court
has directed authorities to maintain, in a digital format, information
regarding details of penalties and disciplinary action taken against public
information officers (PIOs) who failed to provide information under the Right
to Information (RTI) Act.
In an order dated September 23, Justice Suraj Govindaraj said, “When the information concerns the implementation of the RTI Act and is capable of being maintained in a systematic form, the appropriate response is not to require the same information to be reconstructed from individual files every time a citizen seeks it. The better course is to ensure the information is maintained in a manner which permits its ready retrieval and, where appropriate, its proactive disclosure.”
Section 25(3) of the RTI Act specifies that the Karnataka State Information Commission (KSIC) should prepare an annual report with details of the number of requests received, the number of decisions denying access and the provisions invoked, the number and nature of appeals and their outcome, particulars of disciplinary action taken against officers in relation to administration of the Act, charges collected, efforts made to administer and implement the spirit and intention of the Act and recommendations for reform.
“The RTI mechanism should not operate in a manner in which authorities responsible for administering the right are themselves required to spend substantial time reconstructing information, which can reasonably be maintained and disclosed in an organised form,” the bench said.
Make information readily available: HC
The bench directed departments and authorities to maintain year-wise details regarding penalties and disciplinary action taken against public information officers as is mandated under the RTI Act, on their official websites.
“The object is to ensure that information relating to the implementation of the RTI Act is maintained at its source, collected in a uniform manner, furnished to the KSIC, and to the extent permissible in law, readily made available to the public,” Justice Govindaraj said.
It also directed the KSIC to prescribe a standard format in which the information is to be collected and maintained.
Act within 8 weeks, KSIC told
The directions were given while partly allowing a petition filed by RTI activist Ramesh Babu N, who had challenged orders passed by the concerned authorities and sought a direction to KSIC to furnish the information sought by him in the RTI application. The PIO had declined to furnish the information saying that such information is not maintained by KSIC office in the form in which it had been requested.
The bench also clarified that Section 6(2) of the RTI Act expressly provides that an applicant shall not be required to give any reason for requesting information or to furnish any personal details other than those necessary for contacting the applicant. Babu was thus under no obligation to establish personal interest in the information or to disclose the purpose for which it was sought.
The bench partly allowed the petition and directed KSIC to examine the information presently available in its records and furnish the information to the petitioner, subject to the provisions of the Act, within eight weeks. Information to be collected from other departments should also be given to Babu within 60 days, the bench added.
The Karnataka High Court has directed that details of penalties and disciplinary action taken against officers who failed to provide RTI information should be uploaded online.
 |
The RTI Act mandates that
the Karnataka State Information Commission should prepare an annual report with
details of the number of RTI requests received, the number of decisions denying
access taken, etc. (Image generated using AI) |
In an order dated September 23, Justice Suraj Govindaraj said, “When the information concerns the implementation of the RTI Act and is capable of being maintained in a systematic form, the appropriate response is not to require the same information to be reconstructed from individual files every time a citizen seeks it. The better course is to ensure the information is maintained in a manner which permits its ready retrieval and, where appropriate, its proactive disclosure.”
Section 25(3) of the RTI Act specifies that the Karnataka State Information Commission (KSIC) should prepare an annual report with details of the number of requests received, the number of decisions denying access and the provisions invoked, the number and nature of appeals and their outcome, particulars of disciplinary action taken against officers in relation to administration of the Act, charges collected, efforts made to administer and implement the spirit and intention of the Act and recommendations for reform.
“The RTI mechanism should not operate in a manner in which authorities responsible for administering the right are themselves required to spend substantial time reconstructing information, which can reasonably be maintained and disclosed in an organised form,” the bench said.
Make information readily available: HC
The bench directed departments and authorities to maintain year-wise details regarding penalties and disciplinary action taken against public information officers as is mandated under the RTI Act, on their official websites.
“The object is to ensure that information relating to the implementation of the RTI Act is maintained at its source, collected in a uniform manner, furnished to the KSIC, and to the extent permissible in law, readily made available to the public,” Justice Govindaraj said.
It also directed the KSIC to prescribe a standard format in which the information is to be collected and maintained.
Act within 8 weeks, KSIC told
The directions were given while partly allowing a petition filed by RTI activist Ramesh Babu N, who had challenged orders passed by the concerned authorities and sought a direction to KSIC to furnish the information sought by him in the RTI application. The PIO had declined to furnish the information saying that such information is not maintained by KSIC office in the form in which it had been requested.
The bench also clarified that Section 6(2) of the RTI Act expressly provides that an applicant shall not be required to give any reason for requesting information or to furnish any personal details other than those necessary for contacting the applicant. Babu was thus under no obligation to establish personal interest in the information or to disclose the purpose for which it was sought.
The bench partly allowed the petition and directed KSIC to examine the information presently available in its records and furnish the information to the petitioner, subject to the provisions of the Act, within eight weeks. Information to be collected from other departments should also be given to Babu within 60 days, the bench added.
.JPG)
.JPG)
