The Right to Information (RTI) Act is a law enacted by the Parliament of India to provide

for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens. It was passed by
Parliament on ! "une #$$! and came fully into force on % &ctober #$$!. The RTI Act
mandates timely response to citizen re'uests for government information. It applies to all
(tates and )nion Territories of India* e+cept the (tate of "ammu and ,ashmir* which is
covered under a (tate-level law.
The Act rela+es the &fficial (ecrets Act of ../ which was amended in /#% and various
other special laws that restricted information disclosure in India. In other words* the Act
e+plicitly overrides the &fficial (ecrets Act and other laws in force as on ! "une #$$! to
the e+tent of any inconsistency.
)nder the provisions of the Act* any citizen (e+cluding the citizens within "0,) may
re'uest information from a 1public authority1 (a body of 2overnment or 1instrumentality of
(tate1) which is re'uired to reply e+peditiously or within thirty days. The Act also re'uires
every public authority to computerise their records for wide dissemination and to
proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum
recourse to re'uest for information formally.
The RTI Act specifies that citizens have a right to3 re'uest any information (as defined)4
ta5e copies of documents4 inspect documents* wor5s and records4 ta5e certified samples
of materials of wor54 and obtain information in the form of printouts* dis5ettes* floppies*
tapes* video cassettes or in any other electronic mode.
Prior to the Act being passed by the Parliament* the RTI 6aws were first successfully
enacted by the state governments of Tamil 7adu (//8)* 2oa (//8)* Ra9asthan (#$$$)*
,arnata5a (#$$$)* :elhi (#$$)* ;aharashtra (#$$#)* ;adhya Pradesh (#$$%)* Assam
(#$$#) and "ammu and ,ashmir (#$$<). (ome of these (tate level enactments have
been widely used. =hile the :elhi RTI Act is still in force* "ammu 0 ,ashmir has its own
Right to Information Act of #$$/* the successor to the repealed "0, Right to Information
Act* #$$< and its #$$. amendment.
At the national level* given the e+perience of state governments in passing practicable
legislation* the >entral 2overnment appointed a wor5ing group under ?.:. (hourie to
draft legislation. The (hourie draft* in an e+tremely diluted form* became the basis for
the @reedom of Information Aill* #$$$ which eventually became law under the @reedom
of Information (@ol) Act* #$$#. The @ol Act* however* never came into effective force as it
was severely criticised for permitting too many e+emptions* not only under the standard
grounds of national security and sovereignty* but also for re'uests that would involve
1disproportionate diversion of the resources of a public authority1. @urther* there was no
upper limit on the charges that could be levied and there were no penalties for not
complying with a re'uest for information.
The failure of @ol Act led to sustained pressure for a better 7ational RTI enactment. The
first draft of the Right to Information Aill was presented to Parliament on ## :ecember
#$$<. (ubse'uently* more than a hundred amendments to the draft Aill were made
before the bill was finally passed. The 6aw is applicable to all constitutional authorities*
including the e+ecutive* legislature and 9udiciary4 any institution or body established or
constituted by an act of Parliament or a state legislature.
Aodies or authorities established or constituted by order or notification of appropriate
government including bodies Bowned* controlled or substantially financedB by
government* or non-2overnment organizations Bsubstantially financed* directly or
indirectly by fundsB provided by the government are also covered by the 6aw. =hile
private bodies are not within the Act1s ambit directly* in a landmar5 decision of %$
7ovember #$$C ((arba9it Roy versus :DR>) the >entral Information >ommission
reaffirmed that privatised public utility companies continue to be within the RTI Act their
privatisation notwithstanding.
)nder the Act* all authorities covered must appoint their Public Information &fficer (PI&).
=hen any person submits a re'uest to the PI& for information in writing* it is the PI&1s
obligation to provide information. @urther* if the re'uest pertains to another public
authority (in whole or part) it is the PI&1s responsibility to transferEforward the concerned
portions of the re'uest to a PI& of the other authority within five days. In addition* every
public authority is re'uired to designate Assistant Public Information &fficers (API&s) to
receive RTI re'uests and appeals for forwarding to the PI&s of their public authority.
The RTI Act specifies that a citizen ma5ing the re'uest is not obliged to disclose any
information e+cept hisEher name and contact particulars. The Act also specifies time
limits for replying to the re'uest. If the re'uest has been made to the PI&* the reply is to
be given within %$ days of receipt. In the case of API&* the reply is to be given within %!
days of receipt. If the re'uest is transferred by to PI& to another public authority the time
allowed to reply is computed from the day on which it is received by the PI& of the
transferee authority.
In case of information concerning corruption and ?uman Rights violations by scheduled
(ecurity agencies* the time limit is <! days but with the prior approval of the >entral
Information >ommission. ?owever* if life or liberty of any person is involved* the PI& is
e+pected to reply within <. hours.
The information under RTI has to be paid for e+cept for Aelow Poverty 6evel >ard (AP6
>ard) holders. ?ence* the reply of the PI& is necessarily limited to either denying the
re'uest (in whole or part) andE or providing a computation of further fees. The time
between the reply of the PI& and the time ta5en to deposit the further fees for
information is e+cluded from the time allowed. If information is not provided within the
time limit* it is treated as deemed refusal. Refusal with or without reasons may be
ground for appeal or complaint. @urther* information not provided in the times prescribed
is to be provided free of charge.
>onsidering that providing each and every information as5ed for under the Act may
severely 9eopardise national interest* some e+emptions to disclosure are provided for in
the Act. Information which has been e+pressly forbidden to be published by any court of
law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court4 information*
the disclosure of which would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament or the (tate
6egislature4 information including commercial confidence* trade secrets or intellectual
property* the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party.
Information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship4 information received in
confidence from foreign 2overnment4 information which would impede the process of
investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders4 and cabinet papers including
records of deliberations of the >ouncil of ;inisters* (ecretaries and other officers are
some of the e+emptions. 7otwithstanding any of these e+emptions* a public authority
may allow access to information* if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to
the protected interests.
The officer who is the head of all the information under the Act is >hief Information
>ommissioner (>I>). At the end of year >I> is re'uired to present a report which
contains3 the number of re'uests made to each public authority4 the number of decisions
when applicants were not given permission to access to the documents which they
re'uest* the provisions of the Act under which these decisions were made and the
number of times such provisions were filed4 details of disciplinary action ta5en against
any officer in respect of the administration of the Act4 and the amount of charges
collected by each public authority under the Act.