Chhattisgarh High Court — the online RTI portal

Most High Courts accept RTI applications on paper. Chhattisgarh went further: a portal that registers the application, takes the fee electronically, handles the first appeal and publishes both the court's Section 4 disclosures and a searchable view of filed RTIs. For the citizen this changes two things — the application cannot be “lost at the counter”, and the fee is not a court-fee stamp hunt but a UPI payment.

The portal's published guidelines confirm the essentials:

• It is for Indian citizens filing applications, first appeals and fee payments under the RTI Act, 2005.
• The application text is entered in the prescribed column, with supporting documents attachable as PDF within a size limit.
• The fee of ₹12 per application is paid by internet banking, card or UPI; registration happens only on successful payment.
• A BPL applicant pays no fee, uploading the BPL certificate with the application.
• The portal also carries the court's RTI Rules, its 17-point departmental information under Section 4, and annual reports.

1. **Case status first** — the High Court's cases run on the eCourts High Court services; orders and causelists are free to view. If the order exists, take a **certified copy** through the court's copy process — that is Door 2 and it is often faster.
2. **Register on the RTI portal**, enter the application in the text column, attach annexures, pay the ₹12, and save the registration number.
3. **Draft the ask narrowly** — file movement, a specific noting, a specific administrative record. A judicial record that has a certified-copy route will be routed there.

1. The present stage of my application/ copy application no. _____
   dated _____, and the date by which it will be disposed.
2. The reasons for the delay in _____ beyond the timelines in the
   court's rules, rule-wise.
3. A copy of the noting or file movement for the past 30 days.
4. The name and designation of the officer holding the file.
5. The number of RTI applications received by the court in the last
   financial year, and the number disposed within 30 days.

Real example. Kashvi Pathak's certified-copy application at a district court in the State had sat two months; the High Court portal application above — question 1, aimed at the administrative side that supervises copy sections — produced a reply quantifying the pendency in the copy section. The copy followed, and the pendency figure went to the district's grievances list.

• First appeal — through the same portal, within 30 days of the decision or the silence.
• Second appeal — to the Chhattisgarh State Information Commission under Section 19(3), within 90 days.
• District judiciary records — the District Court RTI Rules, 2005 apply; the portal carries them.

₹12 per application, paid online through the court's RTI portal; applicants below the poverty line are exempt with certificate.

The portal is the court's designated electronic route; paper applications per the court's RTI Rules remain the fallback — the rules on the portal govern.

Orders and judgments are taken as certified copies through the court's copy process; RTI serves the administrative record around the file.

Yes — the portal's Search/View RTIs function lets citizens browse filed applications, which is useful drafting precedent.

• All court-record guides
• Jharkhand High Court — records and RTI
• Court case delay — the RTI route
• The RTI Playbook book

• High Court of Chhattisgarh — online RTI portal, guidelines, fee and rules
• High Court of Chhattisgarh — official site

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026. The portal, its ₹12 fee, payment modes and BPL exemption verified against the court's own published guidelines this run. The old page stated a ₹10 fee, which does not match the court's rules; it has been corrected.