RTI Online portal help — the verified contacts

These details come from the portal's front page, which publishes the helpdesk number, the hours and the email together. The portal is run by the Department of Personnel and Training with the National Informatics Centre — complaints about a department's reply do not belong on this helpdesk at all; they belong to the first appeal. The helpline exists for the machinery: registration, payment, submission and delivery.

Payment failed but money debited. Failed payments on the portal are auto-refunded by the bank, usually within a week. If nothing reverses, email the helpdesk with the bank statement extract, the debit date and the attempted registration. Never re-file blindly — a second successful payment on the same request can strand the first.

Registration number lost. The registration number is the only key to the application, the fee receipt and the first appeal. Email the helpdesk your name, the email address used at filing and the approximate date; the helpdesk recovers it. Then save it somewhere that survives a phone.

OTP or registration failure. Try another mobile number and browser first; persistent failure is a portal-side fault for the helpdesk. If a deadline is close, do not wait on the fix — post the application to the PIO with a ₹10 IPO the same day. The postal route is always valid and starts the same 30-day clock.

Submitted, PIO silent. This is not a helpdesk matter. A filed application with no reply after 30 days is a first appeal under Section 19(1) — free, online, on the same portal.

The helpdesk fixes plumbing. When the plumbing works and the answer still does not come, the file moves by RTI, and most stuck cases clear within 7–15 days of one arriving.

1. Status of my RTI application / appeal no. _____ dated _____ as on date.
2. Name and designation of the officer handling my file.
3. Reasons for the delay beyond the statutory timeline.
4. Copy of any noting or movement of my file in the past 30 days.
5. The likely date of the decision or dispatch.

Auto-fill the PIO and your case: Open the AI RTI Drafter

• Request number and registration number — the receipt the portal issues on submission is what the first appeal cites; keep both the PDF and the email
• The reply window on the portal and the statutory clock are the same 30 days — treat the portal's status text as cosmetic and the Act's calendar as real
• Transfer under Section 6(3) shows on the portal as a forwarding to another public authority — the clock extends by five days, and the receiving PIO owes you the reply
• Fee intimations under Section 7(3) arrive through the portal; respond inside the window they state, or the request is deemed withdrawn — the single most common self-inflicted death of an online RTI
• Documents upload — the portal takes PDFs to a size cap; scanned annexures must be legible, because the PIO answers what can be read

011-24010690 or 011-24010691, 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM, Monday to Friday except public holidays — with email [email protected]. All published on the portal itself.

No — it handles portal problems. A silent PIO after 30 days is a first appeal, filed free on the same portal under Section 19(1).

No. Postal filing to the PIO with a ₹10 IPO has the same legal effect and the same 30-day clock. See the Central fee schedule for both routes.

To the Central Information Commission, online through the portal or the Commission's own site — the route is mapped in the second appeal guide.

• All helplines + grievance routes
• All state RTI portals
• File RTI online — the 12-step guide
• Central RTI fee — the verified schedule
• The RTI Playbook book

• rtionline.gov.in — helpdesk number, hours and email published on the portal front page

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026. Helpline number, hours and email verified directly from the rtionline.gov.in front page; the old page's 9:30-to-6 hours, [email protected] address and North Block helpdesk address were unverified and have been replaced or removed.