A compliant Section 4 disclosure eliminates 60-70 percent of potential RTIs. The Supreme Court in Anjali Bhardwaj v. UoI, (2020) 11 SCC 345 treated non-compliance as a contributor to Information Commission backlogs. A fully-functional Section 4 page on every department's website is the Act's preventive medicine.

See our full Suo Motu Disclosure explainer with the 17-category table + flow diagram. Summary:

• Organisation, functions, duties, decision-making, rules, documents held, public-consultation arrangements, committees/boards with minutes, directory of officers, monthly pay, budget, subsidy execution, beneficiary list, electronic information, citizen facilities, PIO contact.

• 12 October 2005 — commenced.
• 2006, 2013 DoPT OMs — operational guidance issued.
• 2019 amendment — no change to Section 4.
• DPDP 2025 — indirectly touches Section 4 to the extent beneficiary-list publication under 4(1)(b)(xiii) must respect the amended Section 8(1)(j) privacy test.

• Anjali Bhardwaj v. Union of India, (2020) 11 SCC 345 — SC directions on Commission oversight of Section 4 implementation.
• State of U.P. v. Raj Narain, (1975) 4 SCC 428 — foundational right-to-know jurisprudence later crystallised in Section 4.
• CIC Decision CIC/SA/A/2013/000132 — Commission can direct time-bound publication with monthly progress reports.
• S.P. Gupta v. President of India, AIR 1982 SC 149 — right of citizens to know the functioning of government.

Two routes when a public authority is non-compliant:

1. File an RTI under Section 6 seeking the 17 categories. If refused, 19(1) then 19(3).
2. File a Section 18 complaint directly to the Information Commission — no RTI needed.

Section 19(8)(a)(vi) empowers the Commission to direct compliance with Section 4(1)(b).

Template in your RTI to trigger Section 4 audit:

1. A copy of the Section 4(1)(b) information published by
   [department] as on [date], sub-clauses (i) to (xvii),
   with URLs and last-updated dates for each.

2. A copy of the Section 4 compliance report filed by
   [department] with the Information Commission for the
   last three financial years.

• Back to the full RTI Act
• Section 6 — Request
• Section 18 — Complaint
• Section 19 — Appeals
• Detailed explainer — Suo motu disclosure
• First RTI template

1. RTI Act, 2005, Section 4.
2. Anjali Bhardwaj v. Union of India, (2020) 11 SCC 345.
3. State of U.P. v. Raj Narain, (1975) 4 SCC 428.
4. S.P. Gupta v. President of India, AIR 1982 SC 149.
5. DoPT OM No. 1/6/2011-IR dated 15 April 2013.

Last reviewed on: 21 April 2026