Most of the people in India might know about Right to Information act, 2005 (RTI act). It came into force on 15th June 2005. It is a powerful tool to the citizens to get information from the goverment as a matter of right. The basic object of the RTI act is to empower the citizens, promote transparency and accountability in the working of the Government and to contain corruption.
Information is any material in any form. It includes records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form. It also includes information relating to any private body which can be accessed by the public authority under any law for the time being in force.
For example, by applying RTI, you can quickly get a phone connection, water connection. If you are not satisfied with the road laid in front of your house and want to know the cost details, you can know the information under RTI act. If there is any corruption and mismanagement in that constrution, you can give a complaint to vigilance commision.
There is no prescribed format of application for seeking information. The application can be made on plain paper. The application should have the complete name and address of the applicant even when the information is sought electronically.
According to the Act, the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature, shall not be denied to any person.
A person, who wants to get the information under this act, shall make a request in English or Hindi or official language of that area addressed to the Public Information Officer (PIO) or Assistant Public Information Officer (APIO) of the concerned department.
Public Information Officer:
First Appellate Authority:
There are possibilities that a PIO may not act as per provisions of the act or an applicant may not be satisfied with the decision of the PIO.The Act contains provision of two appeals to tide over such situations. The first appeal lies within the public authority itself which is made to an officer designated as the First Appellate Authority by the concerned public authority. The First Appellate Authority happens to be an officer senior in rank to the Public Information Officer. The second appeal lies with the Information Commission. The Central Information Commission (Appeal Procedure) Rules, 2005 govern the procedure for deciding appeals by the Central Information Commission.
A person, who wants to get the information under this act, shall make a request in English or Hindi or official language of that area addressed to the Public Information Officer (PIO) or Assistant Public Information Officer (APIO) of the concerned department.
Public Information Officer:
Public authorities have designated some of its officers as Public Information Officers. They are responsible to give information to a person who seeks information under the RTI Act.
Assistant Public Information Officer:
These are the officers at sub-divisional level to whom a person can give his RTI application or appeal. These officers send the application or appeal to the Public Information Officer of the public authority or the concerned appellate authority. An Assistant Public Information Officer is not responsible to supply the information.
The Assistant Public Information Officers appointed by the Department of Posts in various post offices are working as Assistant Public Information Officers for all the public authorities under the Government of India.
The role of APIOs include the assistance of the applicant in filling the application form, if the applicant needs the assistance.
The role of APIOs include the assistance of the applicant in filling the application form, if the applicant needs the assistance.
Nodal officer:
In case the applicants face difficulty in identifying or approaching the appropriate PIO, applicant can submit to the Nodal officer of the concerned department. Nodal Officer merely acknowledges / receives the requests of applicants for other PIOs at initial stage and forwards the same to the concerned PIO for taking further necessary action under the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005. In the other words, role of the Nodal Officer ends as soon as the request of the applicants reaches to a PIO.
First Appellate Authority:
There are possibilities that a PIO may not act as per provisions of the act or an applicant may not be satisfied with the decision of the PIO.The Act contains provision of two appeals to tide over such situations. The first appeal lies within the public authority itself which is made to an officer designated as the First Appellate Authority by the concerned public authority. The First Appellate Authority happens to be an officer senior in rank to the Public Information Officer. The second appeal lies with the Information Commission. The Central Information Commission (Appeal Procedure) Rules, 2005 govern the procedure for deciding appeals by the Central Information Commission.
An applicant has to make a minimum payment of Rs.10/- along with the application by
1. Demand Draft or Bankers Cheque payable to the Senior Accounts Officer / Accounts Officer of the Public Authority concerned department.
2. If the applicant wishes to remit the fee by cash, the same has to be remitted at the Office of Accounts Officer of the concerned CPIO / Alternate CPIO / APIO and obtain a receipt.
3. Indian Postal Order (IPO) payable to the Senior Accounts Officer / Accounts Officer of the Public Authority concerned department.
The applicant has also to pay Rs. 2/- per each page copied, printed or generated as part of the information to be supplied. The applicant can get the information also in the form of electronic data and has to pay extra.
The applicant should draw the above forms only in the name of Accounts officers. If any public authority does not have any Accounts Officer, it should designate an officer as such for the purpose of receiving fee under the RTI Act.
IPO form is attached here for reader's information.
The applicant has also to pay Rs. 2/- per each page copied, printed or generated as part of the information to be supplied. The applicant can get the information also in the form of electronic data and has to pay extra.
The applicant should draw the above forms only in the name of Accounts officers. If any public authority does not have any Accounts Officer, it should designate an officer as such for the purpose of receiving fee under the RTI Act.
IPO form is attached here for reader's information.
Applicants belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) category can submit an attested copy of BPL certificate issued by the competent authority for claiming exemption from payment of application fee.
The role of Assistant Public Information Officers(APIOs) and Nodal officers are only to collect the applications and send to the concerned PIO within five days. From the moment PIO received the application, he has to supply the information to the applicant within thirty days.
My Success story with RTI:
In June 2007, I got admission into IIT Kharagpur for M.Tech. and paid a non-refundable fee of Rs.7000/- and later i got admission into IIT Delhi. At that time, MBA entrance test CAT results were declared but admission process was delayed due to OBC reservation issue. Taking this chance, the other top private management colleges started admission process and were taking lakhs of non-refundable fee from students. Even top score students started to take admission into those colleges and many of those students would choose a better college later when IIMs start the admission process. So, to prevent this exploitation, HRD ministry passed a directive telling that a maximum of Rs.1000/- can be exempted and the remaining fee should be returned to the students who wouldn't join the college. I read this piece of news in a news paper at that time, downloaded the directives passed by HRD ministry and kept with me in view of filing an RTI application. After i joined IIT Delhi, I sent the RTI application to IIT Kharagpur by attaching those directives. After one month, i got a DD for the amount of around Rs.6000/- .
Scanned version of those directives are attached below.
In June 2007, I got admission into IIT Kharagpur for M.Tech. and paid a non-refundable fee of Rs.7000/- and later i got admission into IIT Delhi. At that time, MBA entrance test CAT results were declared but admission process was delayed due to OBC reservation issue. Taking this chance, the other top private management colleges started admission process and were taking lakhs of non-refundable fee from students. Even top score students started to take admission into those colleges and many of those students would choose a better college later when IIMs start the admission process. So, to prevent this exploitation, HRD ministry passed a directive telling that a maximum of Rs.1000/- can be exempted and the remaining fee should be returned to the students who wouldn't join the college. I read this piece of news in a news paper at that time, downloaded the directives passed by HRD ministry and kept with me in view of filing an RTI application. After i joined IIT Delhi, I sent the RTI application to IIT Kharagpur by attaching those directives. After one month, i got a DD for the amount of around Rs.6000/- .
Scanned version of those directives are attached below.
I hope this will be useful and inspiring to all the readers.
