RTI fee for Central Government — the verified 2026 schedule

Central Ministries, departments, PSUs, nationalised banks and every other Central public authority follow one fee schedule: the Right to Information Rules, 2012, made by the Department of Personnel and Training under Section 27 of the RTI Act. The rules expressly superseded the Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005 and the Central Information Commission (Appeal Procedure) Rules, 2005 — so any office still quoting the old circulars is quoting a dead schedule.

These are rule 3 and rule 4 of the 2012 Rules, item for item:

• Application fee — ₹10 (rule 3), and the application should ordinarily stay within 500 words excluding annexures and addresses. A PIO cannot reject an application only because it crossed 500 words — the rule says so expressly.
• ₹2 a page for information on A-3 or smaller paper — which covers A-4, the ordinary size
• Actual cost of a photocopy in larger paper
• Actual cost or price for samples or models
• ₹50 per diskette or floppy
• Priced publications at their fixed price, or ₹2 a page for photocopied extracts
• Inspection: no fee for the first hour, then ₹5 for each subsequent hour or fraction (rule 4(f))

1. Postal charges beyond ₹50 are added at actual cost

Nothing in the rules creates a certified-copy surcharge, a search fee, a handling fee or an urgent fee. If a Central office demands one, it has invented it.

Rule 6 allows four payment routes, and one common mistake sits inside them:

• In cash to the public authority or its Central Assistant Public Information Officer, against a proper receipt
• Demand draft or banker's cheque, or an Indian Postal Order — made payable to the Accounts Officer of the public authority, not to the PIO by name
• Electronic payment where the authority runs the facility

For online filing, rtionline.gov.in collects the ₹10 by UPI, card or net banking and issues a registration number instantly. Keep that number — it is your proof of filing and your key for the first appeal.

Rule 5 exempts below-poverty-line applicants from every fee in rules 3 and 4 — application and copies alike. Attach a copy of the certificate issued by the appropriate Government. The exemption is total, and the online portal marks it too.

Neither a first appeal under Section 19(1) nor a second appeal to the Central Information Commission carries a fee under the 2012 Rules. Rule 8 does demand documents: copies of the application, the CPIO reply, the first appeal and any FAA order, an index, and a verification. Two timing rules inside the 2012 Rules are worth knowing before you escalate:

• You are deemed to have exhausted the first appeal once the FAA has decided it, or once 45 days have passed without an order (rule 10(3))
• The Commission must give you at least seven clear days' notice of the hearing date (rule 12)

Real example. Kashvi Pathak filed on rtionline.gov.in for a Ministry scheme file, paid ₹10 by UPI, and was then asked for ₹5 a page as a certified-copy charge on a 40-page reply. She quoted rule 4 — ₹2 a page — in her first appeal, and the FAA directed supply at ₹80, not ₹200. The rule number, not the argument, did the work.

Ask for the demand and its rule number in writing, keep your receipt, and move to a first appeal within 30 days. Inflated fee demands are a standard appealable ground.

• AI RTI Drafter: Auto-fill PIO + Act sections
• First appeal builder: First Appeal Generator
• Second appeal route: Second appeal to the CIC — the guide

₹10, payable in cash against a receipt, by DD, banker's cheque or IPO to the Accounts Officer, or electronically on rtionline.gov.in.

Ordinarily 500 words excluding annexures — but an application cannot be rejected merely for exceeding it.

No. The 2012 Rules prescribe no fee for either appeal.

Delhi public authorities run their own ₹10 schedule on rtionline.delhi.gov.in, and second appeals from Delhi go to the Central Information Commission — see the Delhi fee page for details.

• RTI fees in all states — index
• State-wise fee chart and portal directory
• How to file RTI online — the 12-step guide
• The RTI Playbook book

• The Right to Information Rules, 2012 — G.S.R. 603(E), 31 July 2012, published by the CIC
• rtionline.gov.in — the Central online filing portal

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026. Every figure verified against the text of the Right to Information Rules, 2012, as published by the Central Information Commission. The old page's certified-copy surcharge and pen-drive rate do not exist in the Rules and have been removed.