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Blog
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If your last RTI was rejected. See Why RTI Applications Get Rejected in India — and How to Avoid It. Five reasons, the exact fix for each, and two case studies of rejected RTIs corrected on appeal.
Editorial notes on legislative changes, major judgments, Commission orders, and practitioner issues under the Right to Information Act, 2005. Posts are published as matters are notified and are reviewed periodically.
New to RTI? Start with the three most-used guides on this site:
Scope
The blog covers the following categories.
- Legislative changes. Amendments to the Act, rules notified under it, and allied legislation that touches the right to information.
- Judgments. Decisions of the Supreme Court, the High Courts, and the Information Commissions that refine the working of the Act.
- Commission orders. Orders of administrative significance from the Central Information Commission and the State Information Commissions.
- Practitioner notes. Notes on drafting, appeals, penalties, third-party procedure, and recurring grounds of rejection.
- Status of the Commissions. Composition, pendency, and functioning of the Central and State Information Commissions.
Recent posts
CIC does not allow disclosure of the dissent note of Ashok Lavasa over complaint received against Prime Minister during Lok Sabha elections 2019
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Dated: 24.03.2020
The Appellant vide his RTI application sought information regarding the certified copy of the dissent expressed by Mr Ashok Lavasa (Election Commissioner) over the clean chits given to four speeches of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and one speech of Mr. Amit Shah in lieu of the complaints received by the ECI during the Lok Sabha Election campaign in 2019.
The CPIO, vide its letter dated 23.07.2019 denied disclosure of information u/s 8 (1) (g) of the RTI Act, 2005. Dissatisfied by the response, the Appellant approached the FAA. The FAA, vide its order dated 06.09.2019 stated that handling MCC violations involved obtaining reports and input from field level officers. Notings prior to taking decision would contain references to reports and comments from field level officers. In similar cases, regarding reports submitted to the Commission by observers on conduct of election, the Commission vide order no CIC/WB/A/000212 dated 15.04.2010 upheld the view that such information would be protected from disclosure u/s 8 (1) (g) of the RTI Act, 2005.
Keeping in view the facts of the case and the submissions made by both the parties and in the light of the aforesaid decisions, no further intervention of the Commission is required in the matter. The Appeal stands disposed accordingly.
The Commission referred to the following:
In this context, a reference can be made to the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of Central Board of Secondary Education and Anr. v. Aditya Bandopadhyay and Ors (Civil Appeal No. 6454 of 2011) wherein it was held as under:
“28………the information as to the names or particulars of the examiners/coordinators/scrutinisers/head examiners are therefore exempted from disclosure under Section 8 (1)(g) of RTI Act, on the ground that if such information is disclosed, it may endanger their physical safety. Therefore, if the examinees are to be given access to evaluated answer-books either by permitting inspection or by granting certified copies, such access will have to be given only to that part of the answer-book which does not contain any information or signature of the examiners/co-ordinators/scrutinisers/head examiners, exempted from disclosure under Section 8 (1)(g) of RTI Act.”
The complete decision can be downloaded from here:
Last reviewed on: 20 April 2026
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Benefits of RTI
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What are the real benefits of Right to Information for a common man
- Get to know your personal grievances
- Improve the situation around yourself
- Solve long pending issues of the society
- Make your elected representative accountable
- Make your Online social presence relevant and helpful
- Make connections with Government Officers
- Become the News Reporter
Indian Bank Association IBA is a Public Authority under RTI Act now
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Shri R K Jain V/S Indian Bank Association (IBA) Ms. lta Bose VIS Indian Bank Association (IBA)
IBA refused to provide the information stating that they are not a Public Authority as defined under section 2(h) of the RTI Act.
IBA performs various activities, which are entrusted to them by the Government or the Reserve bank of India. The functions performed by the IBA have mentioned in para 5 above in the submissions of the IBA, which are the important public functions. In our view, the IBA works as an instrumentality of the State.
DDA to publish information on properties which had been historically leased by the Government of India
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Keeping in view that the citizens of the country should have access to information about leased out public properties and check drainage of public revenue with respect to such properties, the Commission, in the exercise of powers conferred under Section 19(8) of the RTI Act 2005 issued guidelines asking DDA to compile and publish on the website of the DDA information regarding all such properties which had been historically leased by the Government of India, name/s of the lessees, type of lease-private or Institutional, tenure of such lease/s, number of expired lease/s, action taken with respect to expired leases/s etc. (CIC/KY/C/2016/000023-YA, dated 20.01.2015).
Last reviewed on: 20 April 2026
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MAINTENANCE OF RECORDS RELATING TO NOTARIES.
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The Commission observed that digital filing of records by notaries can be one possible solution for retrieving the record. The new records should be created by the notaries through a Law Ministrys online portal. As regards the old records, it may be scanned and uploaded on the web-portal so that it can be easily accessed and retained for long periods.
MEDICAL COLLEGES TO FURNISH THE LIST OF STUDENTS ADMITTED IN EXCESS OF ADMISSION CAPACITY.
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The Commission held that it is in public interest and in the interest of thousands of meritorious students that the Central Government and the MCI should direct the Medical colleges to furnish the list of students admitted in excess of admission capacity for every academic session to the MCI and then take immediate appropriate action as laid down in section 8&9of the Medical Council of India (CRITERIA FOR IDENTIFICATION OF STUDENTS ADMITTED IN EXCESS OF ADMISSION CAPACITY OF MEDICAL COLLEGES) REGULATIONS, 1997 ( CIC/YA/C/2015/900420, dated 1/4/2016)
Last reviewed on: 20 April 2026
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RTI relating to Pension to be disclosed within 48 hours
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APPLICATIONS PERTAINING TO PENSION TO BE CONSIDERED AS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
CONCERNING LIFE OR LIBERTY.
The Commission held that all request for information relating to delay in fixation/payment of pension and also arrears shall be dealt with urgently considering them as requests for information concerning life or liberty under section 7(1) of RTI Act. Any grievance regarding these issues also should be treated as right to life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and the public authorities shall do all the needful to address the issue within 48 hours.
The Commission also required that as per Section 19(8) (a) (i,iii&iv) of RTI Act, the public authority should consider pension-related information as life and liberty related information to provide quick access to information, publish necessary guidelines to deliver the pension-related information and circulate amongst all CPIOs, and train them to provide such information concerning pension within 48 hours and the FAAs should initiate a hearing proceedings within 48 hours.1).
Download the sample RTI Application for Pension from our Sample download Section here. Also read our article here about RTI for Pension benefits.
Related: What is New Pension Scheme
Last reviewed on: 20 April 2026
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Passport Verification Report to be disclosed under RTI
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Passport office had issued show cause notice to the complainant as an adverse report from SP Coimbatore was received during police verification. The complainant had filed RTI application seeking a certified copy of the complete police
verification report.
The Commission directed the disclosure of the police verification report related to the applicant.2)
You can read discussions relating to Passport issues from our forum: Passport Issues and RTI.
Download our Sample RTI Form for Passport Delays Last reviewed on: 20 April 2026
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Impersonation in Government Jobs Scandal
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The RTI and it's appeal pertains to Sh. Harinder Dhingra.
The Commission observed that it is surprising that the public authority could not discover such a serious issue of impersonation from the documents submitted by the applicant and the files available with their own office. The Commission finds an urgent need to probe into this impersonation scandal. The Commission directed the public authority headed by Director General to consider the RTI applications and the appeal by the appellant as formal complaint and inform the Commission about the action taken on the complaint within two months from the date of the order3).
Last reviewed on: 20 April 2026
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Top Ten Pages of Wiki
Last reviewed on: 20 April 2026
Here are the compilation of top ten pages of our wiki. These are based on the user visits.
- How to File First Appeal under RTI (257572)
- What is Right to Information (215255)
- RTI Grounds for Rejection — The 10 Valid Refusals Under Section 8(1) (2026) (176203)
- Time Limits under Right to Information Act 2005 (171182)
- RTI Application for Land Records (167676)
- Sample RTI applications (167190)
- Third-party information under RTI — Section 11 procedure, 2026 (159603)
- How to file a Second Appeal under RTI — a practical guide for 2026 (135847)
- RTI Act, 2005 (Amended 14 Nov 2025): Full Text (130523)
- What are the Penalty and Compensation (119957)
Full archive
For the complete list of posts, see the blog archive.
Related
- Templates. Ready-to-use drafts for applicants, Public Information Officers, and First Appellate Authorities.
- Case law library. Landmark decisions indexed by section.
- Live tracker. Current composition of the Central Information Commission, pendency figures, and recent notifications.
Last reviewed on
19 April 2026
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