RTI Application Form A — no form is compulsory

Every year applications are returned for “wrong form”, “missing form”, “use our format”. Every one of those returns is unlawful — the Act's text beats the office's habit. But the practical answer is not a fight; it is a clean application on the widely used Form A layout that no office can object to.

To: The Public Information Officer
[Name of public authority], [Office address]

Subject: Application under §6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005

1. Applicant: [Name]
2. Address: [Postal address with PIN] | Phone: [number] | Email: [id]
3. Particulars of information sought:
   (a) [Point 1 — the exact record and period]
   (b) [Point 2]
   (c) [Point 3]
4. Period to which the information relates: [e.g., Jan 2025 to Dec 2025]
5. Fee: ₹10 paid by [IPO/DD no. ____ / cash against receipt / online ref ____]
6. BPL: [Yes — certificate attached / No]
7. Delivery: by post to the address above

Signature
[Name], [Date]
Place: [City]

1. The public authority and its PIO, named — “the government” holds no records; the office that holds yours does. Naming it wrong costs a §6(3) transfer and weeks
2. Questions as records — “copy of the register of for ”, never “why was my file not done”. RTI delivers documents; it does not cross-examine
3. One subject per application — composite applications are the commonest lawful rejection ground
4. The fee, with its number in the text — IPO/DD reference written into the application is worth any receipt
5. BPL certificate attached — §7(5) wipes the fee and every further charge
6. Signature and date — the technicality offices actually use when nothing else works

• States with a printed Form A — UP, Bihar and others publish one; using it is courteous, refusing it is lawful
• The 500-word habits — some state rules record a word guidance (Punjab's 2017 Rules, for one, at 500 words with rejection barred for length alone)
• Language — Hindi or English anywhere; the state's official language works in that state's offices
• Online filing changes nothing — rtionline.gov.in and the state portals carry the same fields into their forms

Real example. Kashvi Pathak's handwritten application on ruled paper was returned twice — once for “not on Form A”, once for “no reason given”. Both returns fell on the same reply: §6(2) requires neither. The application, re-sent unchanged with the section quoted in the covering line, was accepted and answered inside the month. The form was never the problem; the file was.

• ₹10 application fee — uniform across the states; online, IPO, DD or cash against receipt
• Further fees — ₹2 a page for copies in most states, postal charges actual; the PIO must tell you before incurring them
• 30 days for the reply; 48 hours where life or liberty is involved; no reply is a deemed refusal that opens the first appeal
• First appeal in 30 days to the FAA; second appeal in 90 days to the Commission — see the first-appeal format

No. §6(2) allows plain paper; no prescribed format is binding. Use Form A for tidiness where the state publishes one.

No — §6(2) is explicit that no reason shall be asked or required.

Filing is by post, in person or through the online portals; a bare email to a PIO is not a statutory filing.

As many as fit one subject — but one application, one subject, keeps the reply enforceable point by point.

Attach a BPL certificate: §7(5) exempts below-poverty-line applicants from every fee.

• First appeal format and grounds
• All RTI forms + downloads
• File RTI online — the 12-step guide
• The RTI Playbook

• RTI Act 2005, §6(1)-(2) (form of application; no reason required), §7(5) (BPL exemption), §7(1) (timelines), §19 (appeals)
• State RTI rules publishing Form A — e.g. the Punjab RTI Rules, 2017 (500-word guidance, rejection barred on length alone)

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026. Format and grounds per the Act's text; state-rule notes verified on the state pages of this wiki.