How to file an RTI in India — step-by-step guide

Filing an RTI is closer to posting a registered letter than to filing a case. No court, no lawyer, no fee beyond ten rupees, no explanation of motives. Yet most people who need one never file, because the first step looks unfamiliar. Here is the whole procedure, start to finish.

If you live abroad: see the NRI India Problem Solver hub for bank, property, PAN, passport and parent-emergency guides built for NRIs.

This page is the English seed for India's regional-language RTI guides. For the long-form treatment with 12 steps, landmark rulings and all twelve free tools, see How to file an RTI in India — the definitive pillar guide.

• Step 1 — Find the office that holds the record. Not the office that wronged you; the office that holds the paper. A municipal ration-card file sits with the food and supplies office, not the ministry. Central authority: file at rtionline.gov.in. State authority: your state's online portal if one exists, otherwise a postal application.
• Step 2 — Write the application. Plain paper, any language the office reads. Address it to the Public Information Officer. Cite section 6. List numbered points, each asking for a record that exists: the file, the order, the register entry, the noting. Skip “why” questions — what a PIO is and is not required to do decides what gets answered.
• Step 3 — Pay the fee. Rs 10 to central authorities, payable online at the portal; by IPO, demand draft or court-fee stamp by post, as the relevant rules prescribe — states differ, so check the state-wise fee list. Below Poverty Line applicants are exempt from the application fee on producing a BPL certificate.
• Step 4 — Send it and keep proof. Speed Post with the acknowledgement card, or the portal's registration number. Proof of the date of filing is what starts every clock that follows.
• Step 5 — Count 30 days. Section 7(1) gives the PIO thirty days — forty-eight hours where the information concerns life or liberty, the narrow life-and-liberty clause. Transfer to another authority adds five days under section 6(3).
• Step 6 — If nothing comes, appeal. No reply in thirty days is a deemed refusal under section 7(2). The First Appellate Authority must hear a first appeal within 30 days, section 19(1); the FAA has 30 days, extendable to 45, to decide; a second appeal lies to the Information Commission within 90 days, section 19(3).

To:
The Public Information Officer,
[Office name and full address]

Subject: Application under section 6, RTI Act 2005

Sir/Madam, kindly provide the following information
in respect of [matter, with file number, dates]:

1. [The record: order / register entry / file noting]
2. [Date-wise movement of the file]
3. [The rule or norm applied to the decision]

Application fee of Rs. 10 paid [online / by IPO no. ___].

Yours faithfully,
[Name, address, phone]

Three habits make this work. One subject per application. Dates and reference numbers in the first line. Records, not opinions — the Supreme Court's Khanapuram Gandaiah ruling means a PIO answers with what exists on file, and “why was this done” gets nothing while “provide the noting on file X” gets the same answer in writing.

Kashvi Pathak's scholarship disbursed late every semester was told, each time, that “the file is with the department”. Her application — four lines asking for the file's movement, the officer holding it, and the disbursal timeline prescribed in the scheme's guidelines — produced a reply within the month showing the file had bounced twice between two desks for want of one signature. The signature was obtained the week the reply reached her. No hearing, no appeal: the record did the work.

• Day 0 — application reaches the PIO.
• Day 5 — outer limit for transfer to the correct authority, section 6(3).
• Day 30 — reply due, section 7(1); 48 hours only for life-and-liberty matters.
• Day 30 with no reply — deemed refusal; first appeal within 30 days, section 19(1).
• FAA silent 30 days, maximum 45 — second appeal within 90 days to the Information Commission, section 19(3).

This guide is available in:

• தமிழ் — Tamil
• తెలుగు — Telugu
• বাংলা — Bengali
• मराठी — Marathi
• ગુજરાતી — Gujarati
• हिंदी — Hindi

• AI RTI Drafter — a polished section 6 application in a minute.
• AwaazRTI — speak in Indian languages, get RTI text.
• First Appeal Builder — auto-fills the section 19(1) appeal.
• Fee Calculator — the exact fee and mode for every state.
• Timeline Calculator — every statutory deadline for your dates.

Not directly — the Act covers public authorities. Ask the regulator or department that controls the company: the university behind a private college, the RERA authority behind a builder, the electricity regulator behind a discom. The record usually sits on the public side of the fence.

Only enough to receive the reply — name and postal address. Section 6(2) expressly forbids requiring reasons.

A PIO who does not hold the record must transfer it to the right authority within five days under section 6(3), not return it. If it comes back instead, that refusal is your first appeal's centrepiece.

rtionline.gov.in serves central public authorities. Many states run their own portals — the state portal directory maps them — and every state also accepts postal applications.

• What is a PIO?
• What is a deemed refusal?
• What is the RTI fee?
• What is the First Appellate Authority?
• What is the life-and-liberty clause?
• The RTI Playbook book — drafting, appeals and deadlines in one place.

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026.