Quick answer: If the Maharashtra First Appellate Authority ignored you or refused information, file your second appeal at the State Information Commission within 90 days, using Form A, online at sic.maharashtra.gov.in or by post, with the prescribed Rs 20 fee (free for BPL applicants).
A second appeal is your last administrative remedy under the Right to Information Act, 2005. Once the First Appellate Authority (FAA) has decided your first appeal, or let the 30 to 45 day window lapse without a word, Section 19(3) lets you carry the matter to the Maharashtra State Information Commission (SIC). The Commission can order disclosure, impose a penalty on the Public Information Officer, and award you compensation. This guide walks through the 90-day window, Form A, the fee, which bench hears your matter, and how to track the hearing.
Under Section 19(3) of the RTI Act, a second appeal lies before the State Information Commission within 90 days from the date the First Appellate Authority's decision was made or should have been made, or from when you actually received it. You become eligible the moment the FAA decides your first appeal against you, or simply fails to decide it within the time fixed by the Act.
Missed the 90 days? Section 19(3) carries a proviso: the Commission “may admit the appeal after the expiry of the period of ninety days if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the appeal in time.” Condonation is discretionary, not automatic. If you are late, attach a short, dated application for condonation of delay explaining the genuine reason (hospitalisation, postal delay, wrong address by the department). A bare second appeal filed late, with no condonation request, is liable to be dismissed as time-barred.
The Maharashtra SIC runs a dedicated online second-appeal portal. As the official guidelines state, “This web portal can be used by Indian citizens to file online second appeal applications under the Right to Information Act-2005, and the payment of prescribed fees can also be made online on the portal.”
Prefer post? You may also send Form A with the Rs 20 fee (by court-fee stamp or as your bench office directs) and the same annexures to the relevant SIC bench by registered post or in person. Keep the postal receipt.
Send an advance copy of the complete appeal to the PIO and the First Appellate Authority as well, so they can file their say. This avoids an adjournment on the first date.
The Maharashtra SIC is not a single Mumbai office. It is headed by the State Chief Information Commissioner at Mantralaya, Mumbai, with separate benches that broadly track the state's revenue divisions. Per the Commission's official contact page, the benches are:
As a rule of thumb, your appeal goes to the bench for the revenue division in which the public authority sits: a Pune-district department to Pune, a Nagpur-district department to Nagpur, a Mumbai or coastal-district body to Greater Mumbai or Konkan. If you file online, the Greater Mumbai system routes your appeal electronically to the concerned Nodal Officer and Assistant Section Officer, so you do not have to guess the internal posting. If you are unsure which bench covers your district, the office staff at any bench, or the helpdesk number on the SIC site, will point you to the correct one before you post a paper appeal.
Once registered, your appeal joins the queue at its bench. Watch for:
Hearings can take months to be listed, because the benches carry heavy pendency. A polite written reminder quoting your registration number, sent after a reasonable wait, does no harm.
The Commission is not a toothless forum. If it finds the Public Information Officer withheld information without reasonable cause, Section 20(1) lets it impose “a penalty of two hundred and fifty rupees each day till application is received or information is furnished,” subject to a ceiling of Rs 25,000, recovered from the PIO's own salary. It can also recommend disciplinary action.
Separately, under Section 19(8)(b), the Commission can require the public authority to compensate you for any loss or detriment you suffered because of the wrongful denial. There is no statutory cap on compensation; it depends on the loss you can prove. So in your appeal, do not just ask for the documents, ask the Commission to act on Section 20 against the PIO and to award compensation under Section 19(8)(b).
Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak, Pune asked his municipal ward office for the file notings on a stalled road-repair sanction. The PIO sent a one-line “not traceable” reply. His first appeal to the FAA went unanswered for two months. On the 70th day he filed an online second appeal on sic.maharashtra.gov.in, paid Rs 20 by debit card, uploaded his RTI application, the PIO reply and proof of his first appeal, and added a line asking for a penalty under Section 20 and compensation under Section 19(8)(b). The appeal was routed to the Pune bench. At the video hearing the PIO was directed to furnish the complete file within 15 days, and the Commission recorded its displeasure at the casual “not traceable” reply.
Online is faster, gives you an instant registration number, and the Greater Mumbai system routes your appeal to the correct bench automatically. Post is fine if you cannot pay online; send Form A, the Rs 20 fee and all annexures by registered post and keep the receipt.
The second-appeal fee is Rs 20, as prescribed in the Maharashtra RTI Rules, 2012. Applicants below the poverty line pay nothing but must attach a BPL certificate issued by the appropriate government authority.
The RTI Act gives the right to information to citizens of India. The Maharashtra portal expressly states it is for Indian citizens. An Indian citizen residing abroad can file, but a foreign national cannot.
There is no fixed timeline. The benches carry heavy pendency, so listing can take several months. Track the cause list with your registration number and send a reminder if there is a long silence.
If the public authority defies a clear SIC order, your remedy is a writ petition under Article 226 before the High Court, asking it to enforce the order. See our guide on the writ petition after a CIC or SIC order.
Yes. Under Section 20 it can penalise the PIO up to Rs 25,000 (Rs 250 a day), recovered from salary, and under Section 19(8)(b) it can order the public authority to compensate you for proven loss.
Often not. Many benches allow appearance by video conference, and straightforward matters are decided on the papers. Keep your full file ready in case the bench asks questions.
Sources: Maharashtra State Information Commission online second-appeal guidelines (sic.maharashtra.gov.in/siconline) and contact page; Central Information Commission second-appeal guidelines and penalties pages; RTI Act, 2005, Sections 19 and 20. Verify current bench addresses and fees on the official SIC site before filing.
See Maharashtra SIC and WB RTI and CIC Hearing and How to File RTI and State RTI Rankings.