RTI fee in Uttar Pradesh — the verified 2026 schedule

Uttar Pradesh consolidated its older fee rules and appeal-procedure rules into a single set — the Uttar Pradesh Right to Information Rules, 2015, issued by the Administrative Reforms Department on 3 December 2015 in supersession of the 2006 fee rules and the 2006 appeal rules. Every figure below is rule 5 of that notification.

• Application fee — ₹10 (rule 5(1)): by cash against a proper receipt, demand draft, banker's cheque or Indian Postal Order, payable to the concerned public authority
• Photocopies — ₹2 a page in A-4 or A-3 size (rule 5(2)(i))
• Larger paper: actual charge or cost price
• Samples or models: actual cost or price
• Inspection — ₹10 for the first hour, then ₹5 for each fifteen minutes or fraction (rule 5(2)(iv)). UP is one of the few states where the first hour is not free — do not let a record room tell you otherwise in either direction
• Diskette, floppy or compact disk — ₹50 each (rule 5(3)(i))
• Priced publications at the fixed price, or ₹2 a page for photocopied extracts
• Maps and plans: fixed by the PIO case by case, based on actual labour and material cost (rule 5(4))

Rule 5(5) also names the treasury head the fee is deposited under — evidence, if ever needed, that the fee is a single statutory levy and not office discretion.

Section 7(5) of the RTI Act voids every fee for below-poverty-line applicants, in UP as everywhere. Attach a self-attested copy of the BPL certificate and cite the section. Neither the ₹10 nor the inspection charge applies.

The 2015 Rules prescribe no fee for the first or the second appeal. The process change is bigger: by order dated 15 June 2026, effective 17 June 2026, the Uttar Pradesh Information Commission made online filing of second appeals and complaints compulsory and ended offline presentation. If you post a second appeal to the Commission, it will not be registered. Applications and first appeals go through rtionline.up.gov.in or by post to the department's PIO and FAA.

• Applications and first appeals: online at rtionline.up.gov.in — the fee is paid electronically — or by post to the PIO of the concerned public authority with a ₹10 IPO
• Second appeals and complaints: online only, through the Commission's portal at upsic.up.gov.in
• The Commission: Uttar Pradesh Information Commission, 7/7A, RTI Bhawan, Vibhuti Khand, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow — phone 0522-2724930. See UP Information Commission — contacts and jurisdiction

Real example. Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak asked to inspect a land-record file at a Lucknow office and was told inspection was free for an hour, then ₹5. The UP rule runs the other way: ₹10 for the first hour, ₹5 for every fifteen minutes after. He paid ₹30 for a ninety-minute inspection under protest, took the receipt, and the first appeal refunded the difference — with the office circularising the correct rate.

Search fees, file-opening charges, urgent fees — none exist in rule 5. Ask for the demand and its rule number in writing, keep the receipt, and move to the first appeal within 30 days; the second appeal is now a click away.

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₹10 — by cash against receipt, demand draft, banker's cheque or IPO payable to the concerned public authority, or electronically on rtionline.up.gov.in.

No. The UP RTI Rules, 2015 charge ₹10 for the first hour and ₹5 for each fifteen minutes after that. This differs from the Central rule and from most states.

Not since 17 June 2026. The Commission's order of 15 June 2026 made online filing compulsory for second appeals and complaints.

No. Neither the 2015 Rules nor any UP notification charges for a first or second appeal.

• RTI fees in all states — index
• State-wise fee chart and portal directory
• UP Information Commission — contacts
• Uttar Pradesh RTI — full state guide
• The RTI Playbook book

• Uttar Pradesh Right to Information Rules, 2015 — notification No. 544/43-2-2015 dated 3 December 2015, Administrative Reforms Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh (English text as published under Article 348(3))
• Uttar Pradesh Information Commission — order of 15 June 2026 making online second appeals and complaints compulsory from 17 June 2026

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026. Fee items verified against the text of the UP RTI Rules, 2015; the online-only second-appeal rule verified against the Commission's own order on its website. The old page's free-first-hour claim was wrong for UP and has been corrected.