PIL In Telangana High Court Seeks Effective Implementation Of RTI Online Portal, Hybrid Hearings Before State Information Commission

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed before the Telangana High Court alleging systemic failures in the implementation of the Right to Information Act, 2005 in the State.The PIL seeks directions to the State Government to effectively operationalise the Telangana RTI Online Portal, implement hybrid hearings before the Telangana Information Commission, and ensure compliance with the proactive disclosure obligations under Section 4 of the RTI Act.When the matter was taken up on July 13, a division bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin directed that the matter be instituted as a PIL. The PIL has been filed by Medak-based law student and RTI activist Banappagari Vinay Reddy and it names the State, the Telangana Information Commission, the Information Technology, Electronics and Communications (ITE&C) Department and the Finance Department as respondents.According to the petition, although the Supreme Court in Pravasi Legal Cell v. Union of India directed all States and Union Territories to operationalise online RTI portals by June 20, 2023, the Telangana RTI portal has remained largely non-functional despite being launched on December 15, 2022 under a ₹2.07 crore contract awarded to a private consortium comprising M/s SRIT India Pvt. Ltd. and M/s Upsteer Tek Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Relying on information obtained through RTI applications, the petitioner claims that only 377 of 17,865 RTI applications filed through the portal have been disposed of, reflecting a disposal rate of 2.1%. It further alleges that none of the 2,502 first appeals filed through the portal have been disposed of. According to the petition, while 3,323 public authorities have been onboarded onto the portal, only 17 are actually using it to dispose of RTI applications, leaving 99.48% of onboarded authorities non-compliant. The petition also states that major public bodies such as the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) and Osmania University have not even been onboarded. The petitioner contends that these figures demonstrate that the portal has not been "operationalised" in terms of the Supreme Court's directions and that thousands of RTI applicants are effectively being denied their statutory and constitutional right to information. The petition further alleges that public funds exceeding ₹1.51 crore have already been paid to the portal vendor despite the portal's poor functioning. A second grievance raised in the PIL concerns the Telangana Information Commission's failure to introduce hybrid hearings. Referring to the Supreme Court's decision in Kishan Chand Jain v. Union of India (2023), which directed all State Information Commissions to provide hybrid modes of hearing by December 31, 2023, the petitioner submits that the Telangana Information Commission continues to conduct only physical hearings. This, according to the petition, compels citizens from remote districts to travel to Hyderabad for every hearing, increasing costs and restricting access to justice, particularly for economically weaker applicants. The PIL also alleges non-compliance with Section 4 of the RTI Act, which requires public authorities to proactively disclose information without citizens having to file RTI applications. It claims that the Telangana Information Commission has failed to continuously monitor compliance with these obligations despite directions issued by the Supreme Court in another Kishan Chand Jain judgment delivered on August 17, 2023. The petitioner states that he personally filed 32 RTI applications and 25 first appeals through the Telangana RTI portal but received substantive responses to only five applications. He further claims to have submitted multiple representations to the State Government and the Telangana Information Commission between August 2025 and March 2026 seeking corrective measures before approaching the High Court. In the PIL, the petitioner has sought directions to the State Government to identify and onboard all public authorities, Public Information Officers and First Appellate Authorities onto the Telangana RTI Online Portal, transfer the design, development and hosting of the portal from the existing private vendor to the National Informatics Centre (NIC), and implement hybrid hearings for all complaints and second appeals before the Telangana Information Commission. Pending disposal of the PIL, he has also sought a direction requiring the respondents to place on record a comprehensive status report regarding onboarding of public authorities, PIOs and First Appellate Authorities onto the portal. Case: Banappagari Vinay Reddy v. State of Telangana & Ors.Case No.: W.P. (PIL) SR No. 17216 of 2026Click Here To Read/Download Order

PIL In Telangana High Court Seeks Effective Implementation Of RTI Online Portal, Hybrid Hearings Before State Information Commission

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PIL In Telangana High Court Seeks Effective Implementation Of RTI Online Portal, Hybrid Hearings Before State Information Commission

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