Only 17 of 3,323 public authorities use portal

The PIL, filed by Medak-based law student Banappagari Vinay Reddy, cited data obtained through RTI applications from the Information Technology, Electronics and Communications Department.

According to the data, 3,323 public authorities have been added to the Telangana RTI Online Portal since its launch in December 2022. However, only 17 authorities have been responding to applications through the portal.

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Between December 2023 and 2025, the portal received 17,865 RTI applications. Officials disposed of only 377 applications, recording a disposal rate of 2.1%. The petition further stated that none of the 2,502 first appeals filed through the portal had been resolved.

Reddy said he had been filing RTI applications since 2015-16, after completing his intermediate education. He approached the High Court after repeatedly facing difficulties in tracking applications submitted through the online system.

Petition raises access issues for appellants

The petition also highlighted that the Telangana Information Commission does not conduct virtual hearings, requiring appellants from districts such as Adilabad and Khammam to travel to Hyderabad for hearings.

It referred to the Supreme Court's directions in Pravasi Legal Cell vs Union of India, which called for fully functional RTI portals across states, and alleged that Telangana had failed to comply with those directions for more than two years.

Reddy also sought a direction to transfer the design, development and hosting of the RTI portal to the National Informatics Centre (NIC). However, a Bench comprising Justices P. Sam Koshy and Narsing Rao Nandikonda observed that this relief did not fall within the scope of the PIL.

State given one week to respond

The High Court directed the Telangana government to file its counter affidavit on the remaining issues within one week.

The matter has been posted for the next hearing on August 3.