Kerala State Information Commission — contact (2026)

• Commission: Kerala State Information Commission, Punnen Road, Thiruvananthapuram 695001.
• Phone: 0471-2335547.
• Email: [email protected].
• Petition portal: rti.sic.kerala.gov.in — register, then use the “File Your Petition” service for second appeals and complaints, and track listing status from the same account.
• Main site: keralasic.gov.in hosts commission information; where it is under maintenance, the petition portal remains the filing channel.
• Hearings: Thiruvananthapuram primarily, with video-conference options; Kerala commissions sit regularly, and the state's disposal backlog is among the smallest in India.

1. Second appeals under §19(3), within 90 days of the FAA order or the FAA deadline passing.
2. Complaints under §18(1) — no PIO designated, application not accepted, illegal fee demands, no §4(1)(b) disclosure.
3. Remedies it can order: supply of the information, compensation for detriment suffered, §20 penalty on the PIO at Rs 250 per day of delay up to Rs 25,000, and disciplinary recommendation.
4. Jurisdiction: Kerala state public authorities — secretariat departments, district and taluk offices, local self-government institutions, police, universities, boards, PSUs and substantially-financed NGOs. Central offices in Kerala answer to the CIC.

Kerala files among the highest per-capita RTI volumes in India, and its panchayat-level records are the most queried — panchayat and village-office PIOs are the front line here.

• The RTI application copy, fee proof and any portal/challan number.
• The PIO reply, or the date the 30-day silence matured into deemed refusal.
• The first appeal and the FAA order, or the date the FAA's 45-day window closed.
• Your petition-portal registration ID for anything already filed.

• Register once on rti.sic.kerala.gov.in with your mobile and email; the OTP sets up a permanent account.
• Choose File Your Petition, then second appeal or complaint, and fill the dates of the RTI application, the PIO's reply and the first appeal — the portal builds the timeline from what you enter.
• Upload the scans: application with fee proof, the reply or silence note, the first appeal and the FAA order.
• Submit and save the petition number; listing status and hearing notices appear in the same account.
• Postal filing to Punnen Road with the same enclosures is equally valid where the portal is down — keep the speed-post receipt.

1. It cannot rewrite a policy or order a favour — only the disclosure of recorded information.
2. It cannot override exemptions the Act itself lists in §8; what it can do is force the PIO to justify each refusal point by point.
3. It cannot entertain an appeal that skips the first appeal — unless no FAA was appointed, which is a §18 complaint instead.
4. It does not enforce its own penalty orders by attachment — recovery runs through the public authority, which is exactly where a follow-up RTI asking for “compliance of Commission order dated _” earns its keep. ===== If the helpline does not resolve it — file an RTI ===== Phone calls get logged; RTI applications get answered. For a stalled department file or a stalled commission registry alike: <code> 1. Status of my petition / appeal no. _ dated ___ as on today.

2. Name and designation of the officer now holding the file. 3. Reasons for delay beyond the statutory timeline. 4. Copy of the noting or movement of the file in the last 30 days. 5. Likely date of listing before the Commission. </code>

Fill the PIO block automatically in the AI RTI Drafter; the full ladder — first appeal, second appeal, penalty — is mapped in the second-appeal guide.

Yes — §6(1) covers the official language of the area, and the Commission works in Malayalam and English.

None. Second appeals and complaints before any Information Commission are free.

Nothing after 30 days — that silence is a deemed refusal and grounds for the first appeal: first appeal guide.

Send it by registered post — refusal to accept a postal RTI is itself a §18(1) complaint before the Commission.

The CIC in Delhi. Railways, income tax, central PSUs and passport offices answer to the Central Information Commission even when they sit in Kochi or Kozhikode.

The Commission runs one of the lower backlogs in the country; a complete petition — four dates, enclosures uploaded — typically moves to listing within months, and video-conference hearings spare you the Thiruvananthapuram trip.

• All helplines and grievance routes
• Second appeal — the complete route
• Second appeal format
• All state RTI portals
• The RTI Playbook