தகவல் அறியும் உரிமைச் சட்டம், 2005-இன் பிரிவு 4(1)(b)-இன் கீழ் கட்டாயமான தானாக முன்வந்து தகவல் வெளியிடும் (Suo Motu Disclosure) கடமைகளை நிறைவேற்றுவதில் தமிழ்நாட்டின் பொது அதிகார அமைப்புகளின் முறையான தோல்வி — அவசரத் தலையீடு, தவறிழைக்கும் பொதுத் தகவல் அலுவலர்களுக்கு (PIOs) விளக்கம் கோரும் நோட்டீஸ் அனுப்புதல் மற்றும் பயனுள்ள தீர்வு நடவடிக்கைகளுக்கான கோரிக்கை.

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1. His Excellency The Governor of Tamil Nadu,
    Raj Bhavan, Chennai – 600 022.
2. The State Chief Information Commissioner,
    Tamil Nadu State Information Commission, Chennai.
3. The Chief Secretary to Government of Tamil Nadu,
    Secretariat, Fort St. George, Chennai – 600 009.
4. The Secretary, Human Resource Management Department,
    Government of Tamil Nadu, Chennai – 600 009.
5. The Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT),
    Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, North Block, New Delhi – 110 001.
6. The Hon'ble Prime Minister of India,
    Prime Minister's Office, South Block, New Delhi – 110 011.
7. The Registrar General, Hon'ble Supreme Court of India,
    Tilak Marg, New Delhi – 110 001.
8. The Registrar General, Hon'ble Madras High Court,
    High Court Buildings, Chennai – 600 104.

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Ref. No.: MMK/RTI/SEC4/2026/001
Date: 06th April 2026

Ref: RTI Act, 2005 — Section 4(1)(b); DoPT Office Memorandum No. 1/34/2013-IR(PL) dated 20.09.2022; Section 19(8) & 20 of the RTI Act; SLP(C) No. 32768-32769/2010 (Supreme Court of India).
Respected Sirs/Madam,

I. INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND
Maanbumigumakkal is a citizen-led movement committed to promoting transparent, accountable and responsive governance across India, with a particular focus on the effective implementation of the Right to Information Act, 2005. We firmly believe that informed citizens are the cornerstone of a vibrant democracy, and that the suo motu disclosure provisions of the RTI Act are among the most powerful tools available to ensure proactive transparency without burdening citizens with the need to file individual RTI applications.
It is in this spirit — and with a sense of urgent public duty — that we bring to your distinguished attention a grave and systematic failure on the part of a large number of Public Information Officers (PIOs) functioning under the Government of Tamil Nadu to comply with their mandatory obligations under Section 4(1)(b) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

II. LEGAL FRAMEWORK — MANDATORY NATURE OF SECTION 4(1)(b)
Section 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act, 2005 casts a clear, unambiguous and non-derogable statutory obligation upon every public authority to proactively disclose 17 specific categories of information on its official website and in its publications, including but not limited to:

•  Particulars of the organisation, functions and duties of the authority;
•  Powers and duties of its officers and employees;
•  Procedure followed in decision-making, including channels of supervision and accountability;
•  Norms set for discharge of functions;
•  Rules, regulations, manuals and records held by or under the control of the authority;
•  Directory of officers and employees, their monthly remuneration and the compensation system;
•  Budget allocated to each agency along with plans and expenditure reports;
•  Details of recipients of concessions, permits or authorisations;
•  Details of information available or held in electronic form.

This disclosure is not at the discretion of the public authority — it is a mandatory obligation. Section 4(1)(b) uses the expression "shall", thereby leaving no room for non-compliance. The information must be updated periodically and displayed prominently.

Furthermore, the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Government of India, issued a comprehensive Office Memorandum No. 1/34/2013-IR(PL) dated 20.09.2022 mandating third-party audits of such suo motu disclosures, with reports to be submitted to the respective Information Commissions. This circular was addressed to all Ministries, Departments and State Governments. Compliance with this directive is not optional.

III. FACTS REVEALING SYSTEMATIC NON-COMPLIANCE IN TAMIL NADU

In furtherance of our RTI-based monitoring activities, Maanbumigumakkal and associated RTI activists have filed RTI applications under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act before multiple Public Authorities at various levels of the Government of Tamil Nadu, especially the responsible Offices functioning at Secretaritat, specifically seeking information concerning their compliance with Section 4(1)(b) obligations and with the DoPT circular dated 20.09.2022. The replies received have been deeply alarming and reveal a systemic and unacceptable failure at the institutional level. The key findings are as follows:

1. Offices at the Secretariat level — including departments directly responsible for personnel management and governance  — have stated categorically that the DoPT Office Memorandum No. 1/34/2013-IR(PL) dated 20.09.2022 was "not received" at their offices. This response is not credible, given that the circular was issued to all Ministries, Departments and States through official channels. The said cirucular is very much available in public domain with DoPT website.  It demonstrates either wilful suppression or grave administrative negligence.

2. Mandatory proactive disclosures under Section 4(1)(b), including details of organisational structure, officers, budgets and key decisions, remain either wholly absent or severely outdated on the websites of multiple Public Authorities. The information, where available, has not been periodically updated as required by law.

3. Not a single Public Authority that was queried has provided evidence of having conducted a third-party audit of its suo motu disclosures as mandated by the DoPT circular. No third-party audit report has been submitted to the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission by any of these authorities.

4. Several PIOs, when asked to provide copies of annual reports, organisational charts, details of inspections and audit findings, have either refused to provide the information or have demanded fees for information that ought to be suo motu disclosed free of charge, in contravention of the RTI Act's own fee exemption norms for proactively disclosable information.

5. Few PIOs have taken the entirely improper step of returning a validly filed RTI application demanding that the applicant re-pay fees, though the application had already been accepted through the official online portal. This constitutes a direct violation of the RTI Act and the applicant's fundamental right to access information.

Copies of RTI replies received from the following departments and authorities, evidencing the above violations, are enclosed herewith for your ready reference: Energy Department, Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department, Human Resources Management Department, Housing & Urban Development, General Administration — Personnel & Administrative Reforms, and Small Industries Department.

We would also like to appreciate the reply provided by the Industries Department where they agreed for having received the letter from DoPT and also provided the copy of the letter as information.  They also provided the annual report of the department as requested.  However, it was informed that there also no third party audit conducted so far.

IV. IMPACT ON CITIZENS AND CONSTITUTIONAL VALUES
The RTI Act, 2005 is a constitutionally grounded legislation that gives effect to Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India — the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression, which includes the right to know. The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, in a catena of decisions, has affirmed that the right to information is a constitutional right.

The deliberate or negligent non-implementation of Section 4(1)(b) has several grievous consequences:

•  It forces ordinary citizens to incur expense and hardship by filing individual RTI applications for basic information that ought to be available in the public domain;
•  It perpetuates opacity in governance, thereby enabling corruption, misuse of public funds and unaccountable decision-making;
•  It defeats the very purpose and spirit of the RTI Act, which was enacted to usher in an era of proactive, citizen-centric governance;
•  It undermines the credibility of the State Information Commission, which is unable to function effectively as a monitoring body when audit reports are never submitted to it;
•  It signals a culture of impunity among public officials, who perceive non-compliance with statutory disclosure obligations as inconsequential.

V. PRAYER — RELIEF SOUGHT
In light of the foregoing facts and circumstances, Maanbumigumakkal respectfully urges the following actions:
1. Issue a formal Show-Cause Notice to every PIO who has provided incorrect, evasive or deliberately misleading information in response to RTI queries concerning suo motu disclosure compliance, and initiate proceedings under Section 20(1) of the RTI Act for penalty, and under Section 20(2) for departmental action for wilful disobedience of the law.

2. Direct all Public Authorities under the Government of Tamil Nadu to immediately review, update and publish complete suo motu disclosures under Section 4(1)(b) on their official websites, with a compliance report to be submitted to the State Information Commission within 30 days.

3. Instruct the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission to forthwith take up a suo motu examination of the state of Section 4(1)(b) compliance across all public authorities in Tamil Nadu, and to publish a state-wide compliance audit report.

4. Ensure that third-party audits of suo motu disclosures are conducted immediately in accordance with the DoPT Office Memorandum dated 20.09.2022, and that audit reports are submitted to the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission without further delay.

5. Direct the DoPT (Central Government) to issue a special advisory/reminder to the State of Tamil Nadu regarding compliance with the 20.09.2022 circular, and to take up the matter of non-compliance with the State in an inter-governmental forum, if necessary.

6. Circulate advisories to all Registrar Generals of courts and judicial bodies to ensure that records, judgments, and information pertaining to their administrative and quasi-judicial functions are proactively disclosed in compliance with Section 4(1)(b), given that courts and tribunals are also public authorities under the RTI Act.

7. Consider issuing appropriate guidelines/directions to ensure that the right to suo motu information under Section 4(1)(b) is treated as equivalent in sanctity to the right to file an RTI application — both being facets of the constitutional right to know — and that any wilful non-compliance is treated as contempt of that constitutional right.

We place our fullest trust in your distinguished offices to take cognisance of this alarming state of affairs and to act swiftly and decisively. The common citizen of Tamil Nadu — whose only weapon against the opacity of the State is the RTI Act — deserves nothing less than a firm, unambiguous directive that the law of the land will be enforced, and that those who choose to flout it will be held accountable.
We stand ready to provide any additional documentation, evidence or clarification that your offices may require to advance this matter.

Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,

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