Annual RTI Return to CIC or SIC: What Data Public Authorities Must Maintain

The Section 25 annual return is the spine of the RTI accountability system. It is how Parliament learns whether the Act is working; it is how researchers benchmark public authorities against each other; it is how public authorities themselves spot internal patterns of refusal. Many departments file the return mechanically with zeros and dashes, missing the value of the exercise.

• Quarterly — most Commissions ask for quarterly progress reports (April-June, July-September, October-December, January-March).
• Annual — by 30 April for the financial year that ended on 31 March.
• Immediately on a major change — e.g. a notified change in the list of authorities under the Commission's jurisdiction.

• Section 25(1) — Central Information Commission to prepare an annual report on implementation of the Act and lay it before Parliament. The same applies to each SIC for the State legislature.
• Section 25(2) — every Ministry / Department in respect of public authorities under it shall collect and provide such information as required by the Commission.
• Section 25(3) — list of items the report must contain.
• Section 25(5) — Commission may recommend reform measures.

For every public authority, in respect of the financial year, the report must contain:

1. Number of requests received.
2. Number of decisions where applicants were not entitled to access the documents pursuant to the requests, the provisions of the Act under which the decisions were made, and the number of times such provisions were invoked.
3. Number of appeals referred to the Central / State Information Commission for review, the nature of the appeals, and the outcome of the appeals.
4. Particulars of any disciplinary action taken against any officer in respect of the administration of the Act.
5. Amount of charges collected by each public authority under the Act.
6. Any facts which indicate efforts by public authorities to administer and implement the spirit and intention of the Act.
7. Recommendations for reform — including general or specific recommendations.

The CIC's standard quarterly return template (followed by most SICs with minor variation) covers:

1. Step 1. Maintain the master RTI register through the year — date of receipt, applicant, subject, PIO, status, disposal date, fee, exemption invoked.
2. Step 2. Maintain a separate appeals register — first appeal received, FAA, hearing date, disposal date, disposition.
3. Step 3. Maintain a Section 4 compliance file — page versions, update dates, signed sign-off for each clause.
4. Step 4. At the end of every quarter, the nodal officer pulls counts from the registers.
5. Step 5. Cross-verify against the receipts register at the cash counter (for fees) — fee collected must reconcile with applications received.
6. Step 6. Reconcile against the despatch register — every reply to an applicant must have a despatch reference.
7. Step 7. Send the return through the official portal of the Commission (CIC has an online return module; many SICs use email or post).
8. Step 8. Save a signed PDF for the office record.
9. Step 9. After CAG / Commission feedback, mark the open observations and close them in the next quarter.

The Commission needs clause-wise data. Suggested internal table:

• Filing a “nil” return when the office actually received RTIs — happens when sub-offices forget to upload their data.
• Counting transferred-in and original applications twice.
• Counting first appeals as “second appeals” in column O. They are different.
• Missing the Section 4 self-rating in column S — many authorities skip this and the Commission flags it.
• No reconciliation with the cash register — fee figures often do not match the cashier's report.
• Not closing previous observations before submitting the next return.

• The Commission can issue a Section 19(8)(a) direction to comply, in any second appeal where the authority is a respondent.
• The Commission's annual report names defaulting public authorities — a reputational consequence.
• The CAG, in its compliance audit, treats non-filing as a “lacuna in internal control”.

Yes. Section 25(2) uses “shall”. The Commission has the statutory duty to ask, and the public authority has the statutory duty to provide.

File a nil return — but only if the registers are also nil. Do not file nil to avoid the work of compilation.

Through the parent ministry, with the PSU as a separate row. Some Commissions accept direct submissions; check your jurisdictional Commission's rules.

Yes. Online RTIs through the RTI Online portal must be added to offline counts.

The Commission may seek clarification. Repeated errors can be pulled up in the annual report.

Aggregated annual reports are published by the Commission. The CIC's reports are at cic.gov.in; SIC reports vary.

The nodal RTI officer of the public authority, counter-signed by the head of office in many states.

• The Right to Information Act, 2005 — Section 25.
• Department of Personnel and Training, rti.gov.in — guidelines on quarterly returns.
• Central Information Commission annual reports, cic.gov.in.
• Comptroller and Auditor General compliance audits, cag.gov.in.

• Section 4(1)(b) checklist
• RTI record management system
• RTI cell SOP
• RTI compliance audit checklist
• PIO and FAA details on website

Last reviewed: 9 May 2026.