How To File an RTI Application ?

The Right to Information Act, 2005 law brought in the constitution of India in order to increase transparency and good governance. It provides citizens with the right to ask for with information from public bodies. The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, is pivotal as it mandates on time response from the requested body, to a citizen’s request for government information. There are no restrictions to exercise RTI and any citizen can seek information under this Act. Even minors can seek information under this Act, with their guardian filing on their behalf.

This Act holds accountable to all the “Public Authorities” to preserve and furnish on demand information under its control and behooves them to transfer the RTI application to the concerned department within five days of receiving it. The time limit to for getting the response for the RTI varies from 1 day to maximum 30 days, from the date of the submission of the application.

The Act is applicable to the whole of India except the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
As now the Idea of RTI is clear, let us see how to file a RTI stepwise

Step 1 – Identify the department you want information from e.g. Municipal Administration, Ministry of Corporate office, Office of the PM Etc.

Step 2 – Draft a letter on a piece of white sheet with the content you wish to know about from the concerned department. The letter can be typed or handwritten in Hindi, English or the state’s official language

Step 3 – Address the application to the State/Central Public Information Officer. Write the name of the concerned office from which you seek information with complete address. Clearly mention ‘Seeking information under the RTI Act, 2005’ in your subject line

Step 4 – In order to file the plea, a payment of Rs 10 needs to be made in any of the following mode like Cash, Money Order, Bank Draft, or Court Fee Stamp. The stamp needs to be affixed to the application. Applicants below Poverty Line need not to pay the fees but needs to attach a copy of their BPL Certificate to the application.

Step 5 – Always keep a photocopy of the application for future reference before mailing or handing it personally to the department concerned. Always seek for an acknowledgement.

Step 6 – As per the mandate, the information sought needs to be provided within 30 days. If this does not happen, you can file an appeal. The first appeal needs be addressed to ‘The Appellate Authority’ with the name of the department and the address. The appellate authority is mandated to revert in 30 days from the date of receipt of the appeal. If the Appellate authority fails to reply, further appeals lay with the Information Commission, the Chief Information Commissioner, State/Central Information Commission