6,659 govt offices in Gujarat missing from RTI portal: State Information Commission

Gandhinagar: Gujarat’s push for digital governance has hit an unexpected roadblock. The State Information Commission has found that 6,659 govt offices are missing from the state’s online RTI portal. Issuing an order, State information commissioner Nikhil Bhatt noted that this “administrative oversight” has created a digital blackout, making it impossible for citizens to select the correct authorities from the portal’s drop-down menu.

Bhatt observed, “The main reason is that nodal officers have not properly mapped the public information officers (PIOs) and first appellate authorities (FAAs) of all public authorities under their control.” This mapping failure forces citizens to misdirect applications to the Chief Minister’s Office or nodal departments, which the commission noted “tarnishes the image of the state govt” and causes “unnecessary burden” and “harassment” to applicants.

The energy and petrochemicals department leads with 1,172 unmapped offices, followed by Narmada and water resources (780), and the revenue department (610). Other major departments failing the transparency test include agriculture and farmers welfare (532), health and family welfare (485), roads and buildings (474), panchayat and rural development (454), labour and employment (393), home (361), and finance (233).

The order was issued by SIC after hearing a complaint filed by a citizen, Dikshitkumar Talpada. He had sought logs and internal movement records of his previous first appeals. He discovered that his applications were disappearing into a digital “no-man’s land”. During the hearing, it was revealed that while the state promotes an “e-Sarkar” (electronic govt) system, the backend integration with the RTI portal was broken.

Refusing to accept technical glitches as an excuse, the commission issued a 90-day ultimatum to all nodal officers to complete the mapping of every office. To modernise the process, the order recommends integrating “modern AI tools” and an “advanced search feature” to track applicant history and prevent redundant queries. The SIC has also demanded that the portal allow a single application to be directed to multiple PIOs simultaneously. Bhatt also directed nodal officers to conduct monthly reviews to ensure no office remains “off the grid”.