Direct answer in 30 seconds. Use RTI when you need information - records, reasons, file status. Use CPGRAMS when you need action on a stuck service (21-day timeline). Use the Lokpal or CVC for corruption, the RBI or Insurance Ombudsman for money disputes, consumer commissions for defective goods and services, and a writ petition when harm is urgent. Most citizens get the best result by pairing RTI with one action route the same day.
| What you need | Best first route | Where it escalates | Cost to you |
| Records, reasons, file status | RTI under §6(1), RTI Act 2005 | First appeal, then CIC or SIC | ₹10 (free for BPL) |
| Action on a stuck file or service | CPGRAMS at pgportal.gov.in, with RTI in parallel | CPGRAMS appeal after closure | Free |
| Corruption by a central public servant | Lokpal complaint, or CVC under the PIDPI Resolution | Lokpal-ordered inquiry or CBI/CVC probe | Free |
| Corruption by a state official | State Lokayukta or state vigilance commission | Per state Lokayukta Act | Free |
| Bank, NBFC or payment app deficiency | Bank's own grievance cell first | RBI Ombudsman at cms.rbi.org.in | Free |
| Insurance claim rejected or delayed | Insurer's grievance officer, Bima Bharosa | Insurance Ombudsman, claims up to ₹50 lakh | Free |
| Defective goods or poor service | National Consumer Helpline 1915 | Consumer commission via e-Jagriti | Nil up to ₹5 lakh claim |
| Income-tax refund or grievance | e-Nivaran on the income-tax portal, plus CPGRAMS | Principal CCIT grievance cell | Free |
| Urgent, irreversible harm or rights violation | Writ petition - Article 226 (High Court) or 32 (Supreme Court) | Appeal within the court system | Court fees plus counsel |
If you are short on time: find your row above, then read that one section below for the fees, deadlines and escalation path.
Each of these routes was built for a different job, and each has a statutory or scheme deadline that only starts running when you file in the right place. File a grievance where an information request belongs - or an RTI where a money claim belongs - and you lose 30 days learning that lesson from a form reply.
The single most useful distinction: RTI gets you information, not redress. Section 2(f) of the RTI Act, 2005 defines “information” as records, documents, opinions, file notings and the like. A PIO who tells you why your file is stuck has fully complied - no rule obliges him to unstick it. The action levers are CPGRAMS, the ombudsman schemes, the consumer commissions and the courts. RTI is the searchlight; the others are the crowbar. Used together, they are far stronger than either alone, because the paper trail an RTI produces becomes the evidence your grievance or complaint runs on.
The RTI Act, 2005 gives every citizen the right to information from public authorities (Section 3). The numbers that matter, all from the Act and the RTI Rules, 2012:
Start with how to file RTI in India, or draft one in minutes with the free tool at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/ai-rti-draft-app.html.
The Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System at pgportal.gov.in (run by DARPG) is where you demand action from any central ministry, department or organisation - and it forwards state-subject grievances to state portals.
Full walkthrough: how to file a CPGRAMS grievance and CPGRAMS + RTI escalation.
For corruption allegations against public servants, information law and grievance portals are the wrong instruments. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 created a dedicated forum:
RTI remains your evidence engine here: certified copies of file notings, tender records and inspection reports obtained under RTI are what turn an allegation into a case. See how to file a Lokpal or Lokayukta complaint and the side-by-side RTI vs Lokpal/Lokayukta.
Money-service complaints have their own free, binding forum. The Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme - the 2021 scheme was replaced by RB-IOS, 2026, in force from 1 July 2026 - covers banks, eligible NBFCs, prepaid-instrument issuers, payment-system participants and credit information companies.
Details and screenshots: RBI ombudsman complaint walkthrough. Use RTI in parallel only against public-sector banks and regulators - private banks are not public authorities, but the RBI itself answers RTIs about its regulatory action.
For a rejected, short-settled or delayed insurance claim:
See the worked example in the Bima Bharosa complaint guide.
The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 gives you a three-tier forum with teeth: refunds, replacement, compensation.
How-to: filing in consumer court and online commission filing. And use RTI to arm a consumer complaint when a government-run service is the opposite party.
When the injury is urgent or irreversible - a demolition tomorrow, a licence cancelled without hearing, a detention - skip the portals. Article 226 lets any High Court issue writs against the state; Article 32 takes fundamental-rights violations straight to the Supreme Court. Courts cost real money (court fees vary by state, plus counsel) and real time, but they are the only forum that can stay government action. A prior RTI reply showing what the department knew, and when, is often the exhibit that wins the interim order. Primer: writ petitions under Article 226.
For a routine stuck-service problem, file two things the same day:
Total cost: ₹10. Each filing strengthens the other: the RTI reply exposes exactly where the file sits, and quoting it in your CPGRAMS appeal (or a later ombudsman or court filing) leaves the department nowhere to hide. This pairing is the core of the citizen RTI playbook and The RTI Playbook.
Browse every side-by-side in the full comparison hub.
Only information - records, reasons, status, notings (Section 2(f), RTI Act). The PIO has no duty to act on your underlying problem. But the reply routinely causes action: once an officer must state in writing where your file is and why it is late, the file tends to move. For guaranteed redress mechanisms, use CPGRAMS, an ombudsman or a consumer commission alongside.
Yes, and you usually should. They are independent tracks: RTI runs under the RTI Act with its own appeal ladder; CPGRAMS runs on DARPG's 21-day administrative timeline. CPGRAMS will not answer information requests (RTI matters are outside its scope), and a PIO will not redress grievances - so the pairing covers both halves.
On paper, CPGRAMS: 21 days against RTI's 30. In practice CPGRAMS closures can be perfunctory (“forwarded to the department concerned”), while an RTI reply must engage with your specific questions or invite an appeal. Treat 21 and 30 days as the outer limits of round one either way, and diary your appeal dates the day you file.
RTI costs ₹10 (free for BPL applicants). CPGRAMS, Lokpal complaints, CVC-PIDPI complaints, the RBI Ombudsman, the Insurance Ombudsman and the National Consumer Helpline are free. Consumer commissions charge nothing for claims up to ₹5 lakh. Only the courts cost serious money.
When delay causes irreversible harm - demolition, dispossession, detention, a cancelled admission - or when a fundamental right is violated and the department has shown it will not move. A High Court writ under Article 226 can stay government action; no portal or ombudsman can. For everything else, exhaust the cheaper ladders first: judges routinely ask what else you tried.
No. The Lokpal's jurisdiction under the 2013 Act covers public servants and public functionaries. Disputes with private parties belong in consumer commissions, sectoral regulators or the civil and criminal courts - and note the Lokpal cannot take complaints about offences more than 7 years old (Section 53).
Nothing you did is wasted. Ombudsman routes are voluntary for you - rejection there does not bar a consumer complaint or a civil suit on the same facts, and the record you built (grievance numbers, RTI replies, deficiency letters) carries over. Watch the limitation clocks, though: they keep running while you try softer forums.
The fear is common; the design of the Act answers it. Your application needs no reason (Section 6(2)), retaliation grounds a Section 18 complaint, and in practice a department that knows its file movement is on record handles that file more carefully, not less. See common RTI myths and using RTI responsibly.
Last reviewed: 10 July 2026.