How to file an RTI application

Any 'public authority' — every central and state ministry and department, public sector undertakings, municipal bodies, police, government schools, colleges and hospitals, and bodies substantially financed by government. Private bodies are not directly covered, but information a public authority holds about a private body, and which it could access under any law, can be requested.

You can ask for records, documents, file notings, emails, contracts, inspection reports, samples and certified copies. You can inspect works and records. You may ask for information in any form the authority holds it.

You cannot use it to ask questions requiring opinion or explanation — 'why did you do this' is not an information request, though 'provide the file notings recording the reasons for this decision' is, and gets you the same thing. This distinction is the single most useful drafting insight in the whole Act.

You do not have to give a reason for wanting the information. Section 6(2) expressly says no reason need be given, and asking for one is a common and unlawful obstruction.

Exemptions under section 8 cover national security, foreign relations, information forbidden by a court, cabinet papers before a decision, commercial confidence, information held in a fiduciary relationship, and personal information with no public interest. Even exempt information can be disclosed where the public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm, and information about a matter over twenty years old is generally disclosable.

Only citizens of India may file. There is no form prescribed — a plain application containing the required particulars is valid.

For central government departments, file online at rtionline.gov.in. Register, select the ministry or department, write the request, pay ₹10 online, and submit. You get a registration number and can track the status. Several states have their own online portals; check whether yours does before posting anything.

For state departments without an online portal, address the application to the Public Information Officer of the specific office, and send it by registered post or speed post with acknowledgement. Keep the receipt — proof of the date of delivery is what starts the clock.

Pay the ₹10 by Indian Postal Order, demand draft, banker's cheque or court fee stamp depending on what the state accepts. Applicants below the poverty line pay nothing, on production of proof.

Write the request as a numbered list of specific, factual asks. Vague requests get vague refusals; precise ones are harder to deflect. Ask for the document, not the answer.

For a stuck file, the useful formulation is: the current status of application number X; the name and designation of the officer currently holding it; the date it was received by that officer; certified copies of all file notings on it; and the prescribed timeline for this category of application.

Keep it to 500 words for online applications, and file separate applications to separate departments rather than one omnibus request that will be transferred and delayed.

If you have sent it to the wrong authority, the PIO is required under section 6(3) to transfer it to the correct one within five days, so a mistake is not fatal.

The PIO must respond within 30 days of receipt, or 35 if the application was routed through an Assistant PIO. Where the information concerns the life or liberty of a person, the deadline is 48 hours.

If the deadline is missed, the information must be provided free of any further charge. This is a specific statutory consequence in section 7(6) and is worth quoting when a department belatedly asks for copying fees.

A first appeal lies to the First Appellate Authority — a senior officer in the same public authority — within 30 days of the reply or of the deadline expiring. It is free, requires no form, and should state what you asked, what you received, and why it is inadequate. The FAA must decide within 30 days, extendable to 45 with reasons.

A second appeal lies to the Central Information Commission or the relevant State Information Commission within 90 days of the first appellate decision or the date it was due. Also free. The Commission can order disclosure, impose a penalty on the PIO of up to ₹25,000 for unjustified delay or refusal, and recommend disciplinary action.

In an appeal, the burden of justifying a refusal is on the PIO, not on you — section 19(5). Saying so in your appeal is worth doing.

Commissions are backlogged and second appeals can take a long time to be heard. The realistic value of the appeal route is often as much in the fact that PIOs know a penalty is possible as in the eventual hearing.

A complaint under section 18, distinct from an appeal, can be made directly to the Commission where a PIO refuses to accept an application, refuses to appoint a PIO, or where information given is knowingly false.

Use it early. An RTI filed when an application first exceeds its prescribed timeline is more effective than one filed after six months of complaints, because the file is still fresh and the officer is still in post.

Combine it with the department's own grievance mechanism rather than replacing it. CPGRAMS and an RTI asking for the status of the CPGRAMS complaint make a stronger pair than either alone.

Ask for the citizen's charter and prescribed timelines for the service you are waiting for. Most departments publish them under section 4 proactive disclosure, and a documented timeline that has been exceeded is the foundation of every subsequent escalation.

Read section 4 disclosures before filing at all. Public authorities are required to publish a great deal proactively — organisational structure, functions, norms, budgets, subsidy programmes, beneficiaries — and the information you want may already be on the website.

It will not compel a decision in your favour, only disclosure. It will not get you another person's personal information without a public interest justification. It will not work against a purely private company.

Do not expect it to be popular with the office concerned. That is not a reason to avoid it, but it is a reason to keep the request factual and unemotional — an RTI written as a complaint invites a technical refusal.

The Act has been amended, notably regarding the tenure and terms of Information Commissioners, and the interaction between RTI and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 in relation to personal information is a live and contested question. Check the current position where personal information is central to your request.