Right to Information Act 2005 (Click here view)

Right to Information Act 2005 is an Act to empower the citizens, promote transparency and accountability in the working of the Government, contain corruption, and make our democracy work for the people in real sense.  It provides right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority and also provides for constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions.

Right to Information Act 2005 mandates timely response to citizen requests for government information. It is an initiative taken by Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions to provide a– RTI Portal Gateway to the citizens for quick search of information on the details of First Appellate Authorities (FAA), PIOs etc. amongst others, besides access to RTI related information / disclosures published on the web by various Public Authorities under the government of India as well as the State Governments

Section 2(f) of the RTI Act defines 'Information' as any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body.

Request for obtaining information.

A person, who desires to obtain any information under this Act, shall make a request in writing or through electronic means in English or Hindi or in the official language of the area in which the application is being made, accompanying such fee as may be prescribed, to

(a)the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, of the concerned public authority;

(b) the Central Assistant Public Information Officer or State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, specifying the particulars of the information sought by him or her:

Format of Application for Information

The Applicant should clearly mention his/her Name & Address for Correspondence, Telephone No.(Optional) and specific information which he/she wants if practicable with No. & Date etc.

Fee to be paid

In terms of the Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules,2005, as amended from time to time, the fee chargeable for seeking information is as under;

A request for obtaining information under Sub-Section (1) of Section 6 shall be accompanied by an application fee of Rupees Ten by Cash against proper receipt or by Banker’s Cheque/ Bank Draft/ Indian Postal Order should be drawn in favour of the ‘PAO(Audit), Office of the Accountant General (A & E) - I, Maharashtra, Mumbai’.  The request without fee as prescribed in amount and mode of payment will be liable to be rejected.

Rates for the information material

The rates for providing the information under sub-section (1) of Section 7, the fee shall be charged at the following rates:

Rupees two for each page created or copied (A4 or A3 size paper)

Actual charge or cost price of a copy in larger size paper

Actual cost or price for samples or models and

For inspection of records, no fee for the first hour, and a fee of rupees five for each subsequent hour.

Appeals

An applicant can file an appeal to the First Appellate Authority if the information is not supplied to him in the prescribed time of 30 days or 48 Hrs, as the case may be, or is not satisfied with the information furnished to him. Such an appeal should be filed within 30 days from the date on which the limit of 30 days of supply of information has expired or from the date on which the information or decision of the Public Information Officer is received. The First Appellate Authority shall dispose of the appeal within a period of 30 days or in exceptional cases within 45 days of receipt of appeal.

The First Appeal has to be addressed to the Appellate Authority/Regional Training Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra.

If the First Appellate Authority fails to pass an order on the appeal within the prescribed period or if the appellant is not satisfied with the order of the First Appellate Authority, he may prefer a second appeal with the Central Information Commission, Room No.326, 2nd Floor, August Kranti Bhavan, Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi-110 066, under Section 19(3) of the RTI Act,2005, within ninety days from the date on which the decision should have been made by the Appellate Authority or was actually received by the appellant. While preferring appeals before the Central Information Commission, the appellant should forward a copy of the second appeal to the CPIO and First Appellate Authority