An RTI reply says the MCD IT headquarters has digitised no records. The disclosure challenges earlier assurances and sharpens the court's transparency scrutiny.
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Newdelhi,Oct 15, 2026 21:04 IST
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi's IT Department headquarters has not digitised any documents or records, according to a Right to Information response received by news agency Press Trust of India. The disclosure comes as the Delhi High Court examines the civic body's obligations to make its records available online.
The court is hearing a petition seeking the publication of the MCD's legislative records, House proceedings and resolutions passed by its standing committees on a public portal.
In the RTI reply dated October 8, the public information officer of the MCD's IT Department said, "No records digitised by the IT department headquarters MCD," PTI reported.
The petition was filed by the Centre For Youth Culture Law And Environment, or CYCLE. The RTI response has raised questions about the progress of digitisation after the civic body earlier told the court that the work was under way, according to the record of proceedings.
The case began after CYCLE founder Paras Tyagi sought information about the rules governing the online publication of MCD resolutions.
"The system of record keeping is opaque. Recently after the Satya Niketan building collapse, we wanted to see the layout plan of the area. Since the area layout plans are not available digitally we were not able to access it and we don't know whether they are present or not," Tyagi told PTI.
The civic body initially said no such rules existed and referred to Section 86 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, which provides access to records through physical inspection and certified copies.
During a hearing on February 4, a division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia criticised the civic body for failing to upload and update public documents for more than 20 years, in violation of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
On February 24, the MCD's IT Department floated a tender on the Government e-Marketplace portal to appoint an agency to scan and digitise historical records dating back to 1957.
In an affidavit filed before the court, the civic body argued that Section 4 of the RTI Act did not require the immediate online publication of all historical committee proceedings. It said allowing physical inspection of records under Section 86 of the DMC Act met the applicable legal requirements.
The MCD also cited the scale of the task, saying digitising nearly seven decades of municipal records would require substantial administrative and financial resources. It said the process had been further complicated by the corporation's trifurcation and subsequent reunification.
The latest RTI response says no digitisation has been carried out at the MCD's IT Department headquarters. The matter is expected to be considered further as the Delhi High Court examines the civic body's responsibilities concerning public access to its records.
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