Section 27 — Rule-making by the Appropriate Government

Section 27 of the RTI Act — Rule-making by the Appropriate Government

Section 27 was amended by the Right to Information (Amendment) Act, 2019 (No. 24 of 2019), in force from 24 October 2019. New clauses were inserted after clause © of sub-section (2), empowering the Central Government to prescribe by rules the term of office and the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service of the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners — Centre and States (under §§13(1), 13(2), 13(5), 16(1), 16(2), 16(5)). The current terms are prescribed by the Right to Information (Term of Office, Salaries, Allowances and Other Terms and Conditions of Service of Chief Information Commissioner, Information Commissioners and the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners in State Information Commission) Rules, 2019.

Quick Reply: §27 is where the Act hands the machinery to rules: the appropriate Government (Centre for Central authorities, State for State authorities) makes rules for fees, costs, formats and procedure. Every “₹10 application fee” and “₹2 a page” you have met is a §27 rule. The 2019 amendment added the Commissioners' tenure and salaries to this list — the change that made those terms rule-dependent rather than statute-fixed.

The section, in operative terms

  • 27(1): the appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules to carry out the provisions of the Act.
  • 27(2): without prejudice to that general power, the rules may provide for —
    1. (a) the cost of the medium or print cost price of materials disseminated under §4(4);
    2. (b) the fee payable under §6(1) — the application fee;
    3. © the fee payable under §7(1) and §7(5) — further charges and BPL exemptions;
    4. the 2019-inserted clauses: term of office, salaries and conditions of service of the CIC/ICs and their State counterparts;
    5. (d) salaries and conditions of service of the Commissions' staff (§13(6), §16(6)); the procedure adopted by the CIC/SIC in deciding appeals under §19(10); and any other matter required or permitted to be prescribed.

The rules you actually deal with

  • Central: the Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005 (the ₹10 / ₹2-per-page rules); the CIC (Appeal Procedure) Rules, 2005 as replaced by the RTI Rules, 2012.
  • 2019: the Term-of-Office Rules prescribing the Commissioners' tenure and pay (three-year terms, salaries tied to levels the rules fix).
  • States: each State's own §27 rules — see the rules index and the verified fee hub for the current position State by State.

What a rule can and cannot do

  • Can: prescribe fees, forms, costs, procedure, timelines for proceedings — the machinery.
  • Cannot: add exemptions (the §8 list is closed), shift the §7 reply clocks, or impose a fee the Act does not authorise. A rule beyond §27's subject-matter is ultra vires; a Central rule must be laid before Parliament and a State rule before the legislature (§29).
  • “Prescribed” discipline: if it is not in a notified rule, it is not required — see Prescribed.

How citizens use Section 27

  • Demand the rule: when a counter demands ₹20 or a special format, ask in writing for the rule and Gazette notification it relies on. Many invented requirements die at this question.
  • Check the laying: rules not laid as §29 requires are procedurally vulnerable — a first-appeal point.
  • Track the 2019 line: tenure/salary matters now live in subordinate legislation — ask the DoPT's CPIO for the current rules and any amendments.

FAQs

Who makes the rules for my State's RTI?

Your State Government, under §27 — each State has its own rules with its own fee schedule; confirm from the State's Gazette or our fee hub.

Did the 2019 amendment change the ₹10 fee?

No — it concerned the Commissioners' tenure and salaries. The application fee rules stand as before.

Can a department make its own RTI rules?

Only a “competent authority” (Speaker, Chief Justice, etc.) under §28 for its own house; ordinary departments cannot — they apply the Government's §27 rules.

Where is the current text of the Central fee rules?

The 2005 Fee and Cost Rules as amended, available on DoPT's site and summarised with live fee positions in our rules pages.

Sources

  1. Right to Information Act, 2005, Section 27 (as amended by Act 24 of 2019, in force 24 October 2019).
  2. Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005; RTI Rules, 2012; RTI Term-of-Office Rules, 2019.

Last reviewed on: 27 August 2026. Verbatim clause list from the current text; the 2019 amendment's exact effect stated; the unverified claims that a named case upheld the amendment — and that an earlier case interpreted this section's scope — dropped; what-rules-cannot-do and demand-the-rule sections added.

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