RTI

> Introduction
RTI Act was published in the Gazette of India on 21.6.2005

RTI Act, 2005 came into force on 12 October 2005

”RTI Week" is celebrated every year during 5th-12th October

'RTI Act, 2005' have 2 schedules

The basic object of Right to Information Act is:

(a) To promote transparency and accountability in the working of the Government
(b) To contain corruption
(c) To enhance people's participation in democratic process

Address of important websites, containing substantial information relevant to

the right to information is:
(a) Portal of the Government of India (http://indiaimage.nic.in)
(b) Portal on the Right to Information (www.rti.gov. In)
(c) Website of the Central Information Commission (http://cic.gov. In)

The Preamble to the RTI Act states that transparency of information is vital to
Contain corruption

> Authority under RTI

> Chief Information Commissioner

Exercising the powers conferred under RTI Act, Central Information

Commission was constituted by Central Government

Headquarters of Central Information Commission is situated in Delhi

The Central Information Commission is comprised of Chief Information

Commissioner and Central Information Commissioners not exceeding 10 in
number

Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners are

appointed and removed by President

The Form of Oath to be made by the Chief Information Commissioner is

provided in The Second Schedule
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 Chief Information Commissioner/Information Commissioner is appointed for a
period of 5 years

Chief Information Commissioner holds his o ce till he attains the age of 65

years

An Information Commissioner cannot be removed from o ce by an order of

the President On account of withholding promotions or future increments, due to
any loss caused by the O cial's negligence

Chief Information Commissioner or an Information Commissioner shall be a

Person of eminence in public life with knowledge and experience in law, science
and technology

To perform functions of RTI Act, State Information Commission is constituted

by noti cation in the O cial Gazette, by State Government

State Chief Information Commissioner and the State Information

Commissioners are appointed by Governor

> Public Authority

As per Section 4 (1) (a) of RTI Act, a Public Authority shall:

(a) Maintain all records duly catalogued and indexed
(b) Computerize records within a reasonable time
(c) Make available all computerized records through a network all over the country

Central Public Information O cers/Central Assistant Public Information

O cers in all administrative units or o ces under RTI Act are designated by
Public Authority

The Government of India earmarks 1% of the funds of all Flagship programmes

for updating records and establishing the Public Records O ces for a period of
5 years

Procurement made by Public Authorities to be disclosed on implementation

of comprehensive end to end e-procurement under Section 4 of RTI Act upto 10
lakhs

Every Ministry/Public Authority should get the proactive disclosure package

audited by a third party Every 2 years

Public Authority may appoint as a Nodal O cer an o cer not below the rank
of Joint Secretary

> Getting Information

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 Indicate the information exempt from disclosure under RTI Act:
(a) Information, which would a ect the sovereignty and Integrity of India
(b) Information, which has been forbidden to be published by any Court of law and
which may constitute Contempt of Court
(c) Information relating to cabinet papers, including records of deliberations of the
Secretaries and other o cers

Payment of fee for seeking information under RTI Act is admissible through:
(a) Demand Draft or a Banker's Cheque/An Indian Postal Order
(b) Master/Visa, Debit/Credit Cards
(c) Internet Banking of State Bank of India

The payment of fee for seeking information under RTI Act, DD/ is drawn in
favour of The Accounts O cer of the Public Authority

Further fee in addition to the application fee by the Public Information O cer
can be charged in accordance with Fee and Cost Rules

Any person below poverty line are exempted from payment of fee under RTI
Act

The web-portal designed for the Indian citizens, to le RTI applications and rst
appeal online, is www.rtionline.gov. in

Application is to be made to the Public Information O cer, under RTI Act in

either English or Hindi or any O cial language of the area

An application for information should contain not more than Five hundred
words.

Section 8 (3) of RTI Act talks about the time period related to occurrence of an
event about which information is sought 20 years

A reply to a request for information should mandatorily contain Application

No. And date and fee charged

Request for information by CPIO may be rejected on the grounds apart from
those speci ed in Section 8, that is Infringement of copyright

A CPIO for knowingly giving incorrect, incomplete or misleading information,

may be penalised for an amount not exceeding 25,000 or Rs 200 per day

Information on o cial tours of Ministers and other o cials is to be updated

Once in a half year

Suo motu disclosure is to be done under the provisions of Section 4 of RTI

Act in respect of Transfer policy and orders
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 Ministries/Departments are directed to include a chapter on RTI Act in their
Annual Reports

In respect of RTI applications regarding information concerning other public

authorities, a public authority shall Advise the Applicant to make separate
applications to the concerned Public Authorities and provide part of
information, available with the PIOs, to the Applicant

A Public Information O cer will be liable to be imposed a monetary penalty

for-
(a) Refusal to receive an information application
(b) Not providing information within speci ed time-limits
(c) Destroying information

> Time period of Information

Requests from persons seeking information and render assistance to the
persons seeking information are dealt with by Central Public Information O cer

First Appeal to the rst Appellate Authority may be led by the Applicant on
receipt of reply of CPIO within 30 days

A second appeal with the CPIO can be preferred from the date on which the
information was actually received by the Appellant within 90 days

CPIO shall either to provide information or reject the request for any reasons,
from the date of receipt of request from the applicant within 30 days

The information if it concerns the life or liberty of a person may be suggested

to the applicant within 48 hours

Any information in respect of allegations of violation of human rights should

be provided under RTI Act, within 45 days

Third party can make representation against the proposed disclosure under RTI
Act within 10 days

For presence before the Commission, an appellant is given notice of 7 days

An APIO have to forward an RTI application/appeal to the Public Information

O cer/First Appellate Authority at the most within 5 days

A second appeal on information pertaining to a person's life and liberty

should be decided by Information Commission have No time-limit
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 ’Deemed Refusal' under the RTI Act is A failure to provide information by PIO
within stipulated time

Application from one public authority to the concerned Public Authority is

to be transferred within the same day

Application relating to allegation of corruption is to be acted upon within 30

days

An Appeal by the Appellate Authority in exception cases is disposed of within

45 days

Transfer of an application to another public authority is covered under of RTI

Act Section 6 (3)

Final return of Annual Report in the RTI Annual Report Information System is
to be uploaded by 15th April

Any suit, application or other proceedings in respect of any order made under
RTI Act is not entertained by any Court

> Expenses under RTI

For Innovative Awareness Generation Programmes, Administrative Training
Institutes are granted nancial assistance of Rs 4 lakhs

For taking up various activities during RTI week celebration, State Information
Commissioner are provided nancial assistance of Rs 3 lakhs

ATIs are provided per workshop/seminar organised on RTI related themes of

Rs 1 lakh

Information to be provided in diskette or oppy may be charged Rs 50 per

diskette or oppy

> Miscellaneous
District Resource Persons (DRP) per district are to be trained in a year upto
maximum of 3

RTI Nodal O cers may participate in each training programme, organised by

ATIs not less than 10

”eIPO" denotes Electronic Indian Postal Order

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 “eIPO” was launched on 22.3.2013

Information exempted from the RTI Act is dealt with under Section 8

The bar of jurisdiction of courts on any orders made under RTI is de ned in
Section 23

Period for disposing rst appeal, if required, can be extended after 30 days by
15 days

An application for information become invalid when either Not accompanied

by fee of 10 or Proof of BPL not enclosed
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