Right to Information Wiki Blog
Quick Reply: RTI Wiki blog — analysis, case-law summaries, and citizen guides on Right to Information Act 2005.
Latest RTI decision notes
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- Gold Rate Today in India: 24K, 22K, 18K Price and Buyer Checklist — SEO-focused gold price guide with current-rate snapshot, city buying checklist, jewellery bill calculation, hallmark checks and a light RTI route for complaint records.
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- PMAY status stuck or subsidy delayed? Use RTI after this checklist — high-interest PMAY 2026 guide covering stuck beneficiary status, missing names, delayed instalments, subsidy confusion, grievance steps and record-based RTI drafting.
- BCCI outside RTI: CIC decision in Geeta Rani case explained — legal analysis of CIC/MOYAS/A/2018/123236 after the Madras High Court remand, including Section 2(h), government control, substantial financing, tax concessions and practical RTI routes.
Pension RTI replies within 48 hours — the CIC ruling
Quick Reply: The Central Information Commission has held that requests about delay in fixation or payment of pension and arrears must be treated as requests concerning life or liberty — the 48-hour clock of §7(1)'s proviso, not the usual 30 days. The direction came in Amrika Bai v. PIO, EPFO Raipur (CIC/BS/A/2016/001238, 30 March 2017), resting on Article 21: a delayed pension threatens the retiree's means of survival.
WhatsApp legal notices valid in court — the ruling
Quick Reply: In SBI Cards & Payments Services Pvt Ltd v. Rohidas Jadhav the Bombay High Court (Justice Gautam Patel) held that a notice served on WhatsApp — with delivery and read receipts showing — counts as valid service of notice under Order XXI Rule 22 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Physical service is no longer the only lawful service; electronic service with proof works.
The Office vs Officer Test: RTI and the DPDP Privacy Shield
Quick Reply: DPDP Section 44 sub-3 is at the Supreme Court. Until it is decided, this is the citizen drafting test to keep your RTI alive — ask about the Office, not…
A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court is hearing five public-interest challenges to the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023. The flashpoint is Section 44(3) — a single sub-section that lets a public authority refuse RTI replies simply by calling the information “personal”, without weighing it against the public interest. Whatever the Court decides, the way you draft your next RTI is what will decide whether you get an answer.
This is a hands-on guide. It is not a lament about what §44(3) does to democracy — others have written that powerfully, including Maja Daruwala in Hindustan Times on 26 May 2026. This post asks the next question: if the privacy shield holds, what does a citizen-proof RTI actually look like? The answer is what we call the Office vs Officer test.
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