The lead. The Right to Information Act, 2005 came into force on 12 October 2005. It gives every Indian citizen the legal right to request information from any public authority — Central, state, local body, autonomous, PSU, or substantially-financed private entity. The Act has 31 sections in 6 chapters. This pillar covers every section with plain-English explanation, leading case-law, and links to deep guides for every situation.
Before October 2005, an Indian citizen who wanted a government file had to know someone, or do without. The RTI Act inverted that. Today, 30 days is the legal maximum a public authority can hold information from you. ₹10 is the legal maximum fee. Section 8 lists exactly 10 exemptions — anything outside those 10 must be disclosed.
The Act has produced over 6 crore RTI applications since 2005. It has surfaced corruption (2G scam roots, Commonwealth Games scams, Adarsh scam), improved welfare delivery (PMAY ghost beneficiaries, MGNREGA wage arrears), and quietly trained millions of citizens in civic literacy.
Section 2(f) — what is "information": Records, documents, memos, emails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, log books, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, electronic data. Very broad. The CIC has held that file notings, working papers and post-decisional notes are all “information” — see R.K. Jain v. UoI 2013.
Section 2(h) — "public authority": Any authority constituted under the Constitution, by Parliament, or substantially financed by Government. Includes PSUs (LIC, ONGC, MTNL), substantially-financed private bodies (post-Thalappalam test), constitutional bodies (ECI, CAG, CIC). Excludes most private companies.
Section 4 — proactive disclosure: Every public authority MUST publish 17 categories of information voluntarily without anyone asking — organisation chart, powers, decision-making norms, budget, beneficiary lists, etc. Few comply fully. Filing an RTI on §4 gaps is one of the strongest moves citizens have.
Section 6 — application procedure: Apply in writing or electronically, in English/Hindi/the official state language. ₹10 fee. No reason needs to be stated. PIO has 5 days to transfer wrongly-addressed applications to the right PA under §6(3).
Section 7 — 30-day timeline: Reply within 30 days. Information concerning life or liberty must be supplied in 48 hours (§7(1) proviso). Third-party consultation (§11) extends by 40 days. Under §7(6), if the deadline is missed, information must be supplied free.
Section 8 — the 10 exemptions: National security (§8(a)), Parliament privilege (§8©), commercial confidence (§8(d)), fiduciary relationship (§8(e)), foreign government (§8(f)), informant safety (§8(g)), investigation (§8(h)), Cabinet papers (§8(i)), personal information (§8(j)). Each has a public-interest override.
Section 9 — third-party copyright: Where copyright would be infringed, PIO can refuse — but only if the third party objects.
Section 19 — appeals: First Appeal to FAA within 30 days of PIO reply; FAA disposes in 30+15 days. Second Appeal to CIC/SIC within 90 days of FAA decision.
Section 20 — penalty on PIO: ₹250/day (max ₹25,000) for malafide refusal, false answer, destruction of records, obstruction. Imposed by the Commission.
Section 24 — exempt agencies: 22 intelligence/security agencies (RAW, IB, NSG, CBI, etc.) are exempt — but the proviso says corruption + human-rights-violation information from these agencies is still disclosable.
For citizens filing their first RTI:
For PIOs and FAAs doing their job:
For specific scenarios — pick yours:
For state-level filing:
For case-law research:
Recent updates:
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