Right to Information Act

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This article is about the Indian federal law. For freedom of information in other countries,
see Freedom of information legislation.
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The Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI) is an Act of the Parliament of India. It is the

implementation of freedom of information legislation in India on a national level "to
provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens." The Act
applies to all States and Union Territories of India, except the State of Jammu and
Kashmir - which is covered under a State-level law. Under the provisions of the Act, any
citizen (excluding the citizens within J&K) may request information from a "public
authority" (a body of Government or "instrumentality of State") which is required to reply
expeditiously or within thirty days. The Act also requires every public authority to
computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain
categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for
information formally. This law was passed by Parliament on 15 June 2005 and came
fully into force on 13 October 2005 [1]. Information disclosure in India was hitherto
restricted by the Official Secrets Act 1923 and various other special laws, which the new
RTI Act now relaxes.
Contents
 [hide]

1 Background

2 State Level Laws

3 Freedom of Information Act 2002

4 Enactment

5 Scope

6 Information

7 Process

8 Partial disclosure

9 Exclusions

10 Role of the government

11 Power to make rules

 12 Who has the power to deal with the difficulties while implementing this

act?

13 Effects

14 External links

15 References

[edit]Background

Disclosure of Government Information in India is governed by a law enacted during the

British rule over large parts of what is now India, the Official Secrets Act of 1889 which
was amended in 1923. This law secures information related to security of the State,
sovereignty of the country and friendly relations with foreign states, and contains
provisions which prohibit disclosure of non-classified information. Civil Service conduct
rules and the Indian Evidence Act impose further restrictions on government officials'
powers to disclose information to the public.

[edit]State Level Laws

The RTI Laws were first successfully enacted by the state governments of — Tamil
Nadu (1997)Goa (1997), Rajasthan (2000), Karnataka (2000), Delhi (2001),
Maharashtra (2002), Assam (2002), Madhya Pradesh (2003), and Jammu and Kashmir
(2004). The Maharashtra and Delhi State level enactments are considered to have been
the most widely used. The Delhi RTI Act is still in force. Jammu & Kashmir, has its own
Right to Information Act of 2009, the successor to the repealed J&K Right to Information
Act, 2004 and its 2008 amendment.

[edit]Freedom of Information Act 2002

Passage of a national level law, however, proved to be a difficult task. Given the
experience of state governments in passing practicable legislation, the Central
Government appointed a working group under H. D. Shourie and assigned it the task of
drafting legislation. The Shourie draft, in an extremely diluted form, was the basis for the
Freedom of Information Bill, 2000 which eventually became law under the Freedom of
Information Act, 2002. This Act was severely criticized for permitting too many
exemptions, not only under the standard grounds of national security and sovereignty,
but also for requests that would involve "disproportionate diversion of the resources of a
public authority". There was no upper limit on the charges that could be levied. There
were no penalties for not complying with a request for information. The FoI Act,
consequently, never came into effective force.

[edit]Enactment
The doomed FoI Act led to sustained pressure for a better National RTI enactment. The
first draft of the Right to Information Bill was presented to Parliament on 22 December
2004. After intense debate, more than a hundred amendments to the draft Bill were
made between December 2004 and 15 June 2005, when the bill finally passed. The Act
came fully into effect on 12 October 2005.

[edit]Scope

The Act covers the whole of India except Jammu and Kashmir, where J&K Right to
Information Act is applicable. Referred Under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, laws
passed by the Parliament are not automatically applicable to the state of Jammu and
Kashmir unless endorsed by the state's legislature.It is applicable to all constitutional
authorities, including the executive, legislature and judiciary; any institution or body
established or constituted by an act of Parliament or a state legislature. It is also defined
in the Act that bodies or authorities established or constituted by order or notification of
appropriate government including bodies "owned, controlled or substantially financed" by
government, or non-Government organizations "substantially financed, directly or
indirectly by funds" provided by the government are also covered in it.

Private bodies are not within the Act's ambit directly. However, information that can be
accessed under any other law in force by a public authority can also be requested. In a
landmark decision of 30-Nov-2006 ('Sarbajit Roy versus DERC') the Central Information
Commission also reaffirmed that privatised public utility companies continue to be within
the RTI Act- their privatisation notwithstanding. The Act also explicitly overrides the
Official Secrets Act and other laws in force on 15-June-2005 to the extent of any
inconsistency.

[edit]Information

The Act specifies that citizens have a right to:

 request any information (as defined).

 take copies of documents.
 inspect documents, works and records.
 take certified samples of materials of work.
 obtain information in form of printouts, diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes
'or in any other electronic mode' or through printouts.
[edit]Process

Under the Act, all authorities covered must appoint their Public Information
Officer (PIO). Any person may submit a request to the PIO for information in writing. It is
the PIO's obligation to provide information to citizens of India who request information
under the Act. If the request pertains to another public authority (in whole or part) it is the
PIO's responsibility to transfer/forward the concerned portions of the request to a PIO of
the other within 5 days. In addition, every public authority is required to
designate Assistant Public Information Officers (APIOs) to receive RTI requests and
appeals for forwarding to the PIOs of their public authority. The citizen making the
request is not obliged to disclose any information except his name and contact
particulars.

The Act specifies time limits for replying to the request.

 If the request has been made to the PIO, the reply is to be given within 30
days of receipt.
 If the request has been made to an APIO, the reply is to be given within 35
days of receipt.
 If the PIO transfers the request to another public authority (better concerned with
the information requested), the time allowed to reply is 30 days but computed from
the day after it is received by the PIO of the transferee authority.
 Information concerning corruption and Human Rights violations by scheduled
Security agencies (those listed in the Second Schedule to the Act) is to be provided
within 45 days but with the prior approval of the Central Information Commission.
 However, if life or liberty of any person is involved, the PIO is expected to reply
within 48 hours.
Since the information is to be paid for, the reply of the PIO is necessarily limited to either
denying the request (in whole or part) and/or providing a computation of "further fees".
The time between the reply of the PIO and the time taken to deposit the further fees for
information is excluded from the time allowed.

If information is not provided within this period, it is treated as deemed refusal. Refusal
with or without reasons may be ground for appeal or complaint. Further, information not
provided in the times prescribed is to be provided free of charge.

For Central Departments as of 2006, there is a fee of Rs. 10 for filing the request, Rs. 2
per page of information and Rs. 5 for each hour of inspection after the first hour. If the
applicant is a Below Poverty Card holder, then no fee shall apply. Such BPL Card
holders have to provide a copy of their BPL card along with their application to the Public
Authority. States Government and High Courts fix their own rules.

== What is not open to disclosure? == The following is exempt from disclosure [S.8)]
 information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and
integrity of India, the security, "strategic, scientific or economic" interests of the State,
relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence;
 information which has been expressly forbidden to be published by any court of
law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court;
 information, the disclosure of which would cause a breach of privilege of
Parliament or the State Legislature;
 information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual
property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party,
unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the
disclosure of such information;
 information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the
competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure
of such information;
 information received in confidence from foreign Government;
 information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of
any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for
law enforcement or security purposes;
 information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or
prosecution of offenders;
 cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers,
Secretaries and other officers;
 information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no
relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted
invasion of the privacy of the individual (but it is also provided that the information
which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied
by this exemption);
 Notwithstanding any of the exemptions listed above, a public authority may allow
access to information, if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the
protected interests. (NB: This provision is qualified by the proviso to sub-section
11(1) of the Act which exempts disclosure of "trade or commercial secrets protected
by law" under this clause when read along with 8(1)(d))
[edit]Partial disclosure
the Act allows those part(s) of the record which are not exempt from disclosure and
which can reasonably be severed from parts containing exempt information to be
provided.

[edit]Exclusions
Central Intelligence and Security agencies specified in the Second Schedule like IB,
RAW, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central
Economic Intelligence Bureau, Directorate of Enforcement, Narcotics Control Bureau,
Aviation Research Centre, Special Frontier Force, BSF, CRPF, ITBP, CISF, NSG,
Assam Rifles, Special Service Bureau, Special Branch (CID), Andaman and Nicobar,
The Crime Branch-CID-CB, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Special Branch, Lakshadweep
Police. Agencies specified by the State Governments through a Notification will also be
excluded. The exclusion, however, is not absolute and these organizations have an
obligation to provide information pertaining to allegations of corruption and human rights
violations. Further, information relating to allegations of human rights violation could be
given but only with the approval of the Central or State Information Commission

[edit]Role of the government

Section 26 of the Act enjoins the central government, as also the state governments of
the Union of India (excluding J&K), to initiate necessary steps to:

 Develop educational programs for the public especially disadvantaged

communities on RTI.
 Encourage Public Authorities to participate in the development and organization
of such programs.
 Promote timely dissemination of accurate information to the public.
 Train officers and develop training materials.
 Compile and disseminate a User Guide for the public in the respective official
language.
 Publish names, designation postal addresses and contact details of PIOs and
other information such as notices regarding fees to be paid, remedies available in
law if request is rejected etc.
[edit]Power to make rules

 The Central Government, State Governments and the Competent Authorities as

defined in S.2(e) are vested with powers to make rules to carry out the provisions of
the Right to Information Act, 2005. (S.27 & S.28)
[edit]Who has the power to deal with the difficulties while implementing
this act?

 If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions in the Act, the Central
Government may, by Order published in the Official Gazette, make provisions
necessary/expedient for removing the difficulty. (S.30)
[edit]Effects

In the first year of National RTI, 42,876 (not yet official) applications for information were
filed to Central (i.e. Federal) public authorities. Of these 878 were disputed at the final
appellate stage - the Central Information Commission at New Delhi. A few of these
decisions have thereafter been mired in further legal controversy in the various High
Courts of India. The first stay order against a final appellate decision of the Central
Information Commission was granted on 3.May.2006 by the High Court of Delhi in
WP(C)6833-35/2006 cited as "NDPL & Ors. versus Central Information Commission &
Ors". The Government of India's purported intention in 2006 to amend the RTI Act was
postponed after public disquiet, but has been revived again in 2009 by the DoPT.

[edit]External links

 Government of India links

 CIC - The Central Information Commission is empowered to decide
complaints and appeals arising from use of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
 CIC Online - New website of the Central Information Commission.
 DoPT - The Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel,
Public Grievances, and Pensions, is charged with being the nodal agency for the
Right to Information Act, 2005. It has the powers to make rules regarding
appeals, fees, etc.
 Right to Information Act Portal
 Complete text of the Right to Information Act

 Online groups discussing the Right to Information Act

 RTI INDIA Yahoo RTI e-group
 Right to Information Community Portal of India
[edit]