Supreme Court, Delhi HC and Home Ministry among top authorities who rejected RTI pleas in 2024–25: CIC

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court, the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Home Affairs were among the major public authorities who rejected RTI applications the most in 2024-25, while the Ministry of Finance also recorded a significant number of denials, according to the latest annual report of the Central Information Commission.

The CIC report revealed that Section 8(1) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act -- which provides exemption from disclosure of information when it comes to matters such as national security and other protected interests -- was invoked 28,924 times. This accounted for nearly half, or 49.88 per cent, of all the grounds for rejection cited.

The Delhi High Court rejected 22.88 per cent of the 2,089 RTI applications it received during the year -- the highest rejection rate among the top 20 ministries, departments and independent public authorities.

The Supreme Court followed with a rejection rate of 13.73 per cent, having turned down 689 out of 5,017 applications.

The home ministry rejected 7,750 out of 58,130 applications, translating to a 13.33 per cent rejection rate -- the highest among major ministries.

The Ministry of Finance, which was one the authorities that received the highest number of applications at 2,20,283, rejected 18,734 of them, amounting to 8.50 per cent.

The Ministry of Law and Justice reported a rejection rate of 7.14 per cent (1,330 out of 18,638 applications), while the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology rejected 7.98 per cent of 10,134 applications.

In contrast, some high-volume departments reported very low rejection percentages.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs received the highest number of RTI applications at 2,54,657 but rejected only 351, or just 0.14 per cent.

The Ministry of Education rejected 0.74 per cent of 1,34,025 applications, and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways rejected 0.70 per cent of 35,481 applications.

The report also provided details of the legal grounds invoked while denying information.

Section 8(1) of the RTI Act -- which provides exemptions on grounds such as national security, sovereignty and integrity of India, strategic and economic interests, trade secrets, fiduciary relationships and personal information - was cited 28,924 times, accounting for 49.88 per cent of all rejection grounds.

Section 24 -- which exempts certain intelligence and security organisations from the purview of the Act except in cases involving allegations of corruption and human rights violations -- was invoked 8,251 times, amounting to 14.23 per cent.

Section 11, relating to third-party information and the mandatory consultation process before disclosure, was cited 519 times (0.90 per cent), while Section 9, which bars disclosure if it would infringe copyright subsisting in a person other than the State, was invoked 232 times (0.40 per cent).

Other provisions together accounted for 20,059 instances, or 34.59 per cent. The report noted that multiple sections may have been invoked in a single case of rejection.

Appeal figures also reflect continued challenges to denials.

The Ministry of Finance saw 26,219 first appeals and 3,966 second appeals or complaints.

The MHA recorded 9,389 first appeals and 960 second appeals or complaints, while the Ministry of Defence received 16,876 first appeals and 1,203 second appeals or complaints.

The data highlights wide variations in rejection rates across institutions, even as the large volume of applications running into lakhs underscores the sustained use of the RTI Act by citizens to seek information from public authorities.