Despite late OTPs, payment failures, online RTI queries may cross 1 million this year

The Central government may have made it cumbersome to file Right to Information (RTI) applications online, but that has not deterred transparency activists and the general public from seeking information. Every month, thousands of RTI applications, sometimes more than one lakh, are being filed with the Central government and other public authorities, show data provided to The Hindu by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which runs the RTI online portal.

This has come even as the website deals with increased failure rates, besides adding a ‘speed-breaker’ in the form of a one-time passcode (OTP) before an application is filed.

The number of applications filed are growing each year, with 7,09,323 requests in 2022, 8,44,262 in 2023, and 9,64,813 applications in 2024, representing a 14-19% yearly growth. Already, 7,66,167 requests have been filed so far in 2025, and the numbers could exceed one million this year. These numbers do not represent all RTI applications sent to the Central government, as many are filed physically. Besides, the State governments and the Election Commission of India maintain separate portals.

The RTI portal was launched in 2013, and in recent years users have complained of lengthy downtimes and payment failures. The problem appears so pervasive that the portal has added a ‘bank reconciliation’ option in recent months to push through filings where the ₹10 statutory payment for applications did not go through. 

In 2023, the portal stopped users from creating new accounts and said accounts lying inactive for more than six months would be deleted. This meant only existing accounts could auto-fill addresses and other particulars. 

This January, after two years of double-digit growth in the number of applications, the portal mandated an OTP, sent via email, to start an application. The DoPT said the move was necessary to firm up “cybersecurity” and it aligned “with best practices”. 

Users have reported long wait times for receiving OTPs. Addressing the complaints, the government had said, “The DoPT explained that while OTPs are promptly dispatched from the NIC email domain, delays may occasionally occur due to high traffic on either NIC server or external email services like Gmail or Yahoo.”

“Some users also criticised the additional step as complicating the process. The DoPT reiterated that the measure is vital for protecting user privacy and that the system has been tested thoroughly to ensure smooth functioning,” the government had said.

The issues have not stopped users from filing RTI requests, with more than 60,000 applications made in any given month this year, and surpassing 1,54,000 in July, an all-time high. 

The technical functioning of the RTI portal notwithstanding, activists have complained of other issues with government transparency in the past couple of years. The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information said on Wednesday that the Central Information Commission, which hears second appeals after information provided under the RTI Act is disputed, has just two commissioners, with nine vacancies.

Chief Information Commissioner Heeralal Samariya demitted office this month and no replacement for him has been named yet. 

Press groups, such as the Editors’ Guild of India and the DIGIPUB Foundation, have taken issue with the 2023 amendment to the RTI Act, which has completely forbidden the disclosure of “personal information” without any caveats, something activists have argued could be used as a blanket excuse to deny information.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, which contains this amendment, has no exemptions to protect journalists from adverse action in the course of newsgathering, press groups have said.