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Know Your Right to Ask for Public Information
Understand what an RTI request can seek, how the process works, and where to check the rules for your public authority.
Prepare your records and choose the next resource
Useful records to organise for Right to Information Act. These prompts are not a mandatory filing checklist.
- The public authority likely to hold the existing records you want.
- A focused description of the records, period and preferred form of access.
- Request, fee and delivery records; preserve actual receipt dates for any appeal.
How it works
- For listed Central public authorities, use RTI Online or the accepted offline route. Central application fee is ₹10, with the prescribed BPL exemption; State/competent-authority fee rules and portals may differ.
- PIO must respond within 30 days (48 hrs if life & liberty).
- No reason needs to be given for the request.
- First appeal: ordinarily 30 days from expiry of the applicable response period or receipt of the decision. Second appeal: ordinarily 90 days from when the first-appeal decision was due or received. Section 19 allows sufficient-cause late admission; keep receipt dates.
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