How to use RTI act (Right to Information) 2005

TechnoparkToday.com>> You might have felt agitated over inordinate delay in getting a certificate from a government office or felt bad abou the attitude of goverment officials in providing you the neccesary informaton. Have you ever used your rights…have you ever filed an RTI ?

RTI (Right to Information) act came in place on June 2005, with the intention to Empower Citizens, promote Transparency and Democracy. Under the RTI act, any Indian Citizen may request any information from a Public Authority.

Few Points for Information Seekers :
-There is no freezed/predefined format for the Request, just that it should be precise & Specific.
-The Request can be either written in English/Hindi or any Local Language.
-No Reason to be specified for Seeking Information
-The Request to be sent via Post/Electronic Media/Personally to the PIO(Public Information Officer) or APIO(Assistant Public Information Officer).
-Fees of Rs.10 to be paid along with the Request. Payment is accepted via Online/DD/Banker’s Cheque(in favor of ‘Accounts Officer of Public Authority’)
-The Information can be collected from PIO in the form of Photocopy/Printout/disk/video cassettes. The same to be mentioned in the Request.  Payment charges applicable as listed below.

Photocopy(A3 or smaller) : Rs.2
Actual Cost/price of a Photocopy in larger size paper
Floppy/Diskettes : Rs.50
Postal charges extra if it exceeds Rs.50

For normal Cases, the information will be shared within 30 Days & for life saving cases, data expected by 48 hrs. When a request gets rejected, the same will be intimated to the requester/applicant highlighting the reasons for Rejection & Particulars of Authority to whom the request/appeal can be forwarded.

In case if a Citizen fails to get a response from PIO with 30 days, the same can be reported to first appellate authority who would be a Senior Officer to PIO. The first appellate authority is supposed to respond within a max of 45 days else Citizen can escalate to CIC (Central Information Commission). For better clarity, all relevant documents & requester/PIO information to be attached along with the Escalation letter.

Certain information(Sensitive data that may bring down the Government) will be shared only 20 years after the occurrence of the Incident. Information affecting the Sovereignty & Integrity of India, Causing a breach privilege of Parliament or State Legislature, Cabinet papers including records of deliberations of Council of Ministers/Secretaries/other Officers will not be shared even after 20 years. For 3rd Party information, PIO has the rights to decide whether the information can be shared or not.

RTI Annual Reports will be available in www.cic.gov.in