RTI fee in Gujarat — the 2026 schedule

Short version. Gujarat's ₹20 is not a typo or an over-charge: it is what the state's own 2010 Rules prescribe, and the Gujarat Information Commission's FAQ says so plainly. What Gujarat gives back in exchange is the widest list of acceptable payment instruments in the country — so a missing DD can never be the reason your application fails.

Gujarat does not charge separately for appeals; the states that do are a small list (Maharashtra ₹20, Bihar ₹10) that does not include Gujarat.

The Commission's FAQ lists them; carry this list to the counter if challenged:

• Cash — where a cash-receipt facility exists (insist on the stamped receipt)
• Demand draft or pay order
• Non-judicial stamp paper, or stamping through franking, or electronic stamping
• Court fee stamp
• Judicial stamp paper
• Indian Postal Order
• Revenue stamp
• Challan credited to the appropriate head
• Online payment where you file through the portal

One caution: court fee stamps and revenue stamps are cheap and universally available, but a few PIOs still ask for “DD only” — that demand is not in the Rules; the FAQ list above is your answer.

The rate card for photocopies, CDs and inspection sits in the Gujarat RTI Rules 2010 — which the Commission hosts in Gujarati (Rules page on gic.gujarat.gov.in). Two practical moves:

• Ask in your application itself: “please also state the schedule of further fees being applied to my request, under Rule ___ of the Gujarat RTI Rules 2010”. The PIO must then quote the rule, not a number from memory.
• If a PIO quotes an inflated per-page rate, that quoted figure is itself information you can test at the first appeal — inflated fee demands collapse the moment they must cite the rule.

• Online: onlinerti.gujarat.gov.in — register, pick the department, pay the ₹20 online. The portal is in phased roll-out: if your office is not yet on it, the paper route applies.
• By post / in person: to the PIO of the public authority, with the fee in any of the modes above. (The old rti.gujarat.gov.in domain no longer resolves — do not send anything there.)
• Central offices in Gujarat (Income Tax, Railways, Posts, GST…) are not state PAs: file at rtionline.gov.in for ₹10.

The Gujarat High Court has its own RTI Rules, 2005 with a different (higher) fee of ₹50 per application, and the Commission hosts those rules too (PDF on the GIC rules page). If your information sits with the High Court registry, budget for the court's schedule, not the state's.

Yes — completely. Section 7(5) of the Act bars any fee from BPL applicants, and the Commission's FAQ repeats it. Enclose a self-attested BPL card copy with the application; no PIO may demand even the ₹20, nor per-page charges.

• PIO demands a DD “only” → show the FAQ list; if it persists, first appeal — the demand contradicts the state's own Commission guidance.
• Inflated per-page charges → first appeal with the “quote the rule” reply attached.
• Fee paid, receipt denied → that itself is an RTI-able record: ask for the fee-register entry for your application number.

Drafting help: AI RTI Drafter (auto-fills PIO + sections) · First Appeal Generator.

RTI fees are prescribed by each government's own rules for its public authorities; the central ₹10 applies to central offices everywhere, and Gujarat's 2010 Rules set ₹20 for state offices. Both are legal.

On the online portal, yes (online payment modes there); on paper the accepted instruments are the list above — UPI-to-a-person is not one of them.

No — like everywhere, further charges for copies/disks come after the reply, as the Rules' rate card prescribes, with 30 days to pay before the request lapses.

First appeal citing §7(5) and the BPL proof you enclosed; a fee demand against the Act's express bar is the easiest appeal there is.

• RTI fees in all states
• Fee calculator (with photocopy estimate)
• RTI forms + downloads
• State-by-state fee comparison table
• Full RTI Playbook
• The RTI Playbook book

• Gujarat Information Commission FAQ — gic.gujarat.gov.in: ₹20 fee per the Gujarat RTI Rules 2010 and the full payment-mode list (fetched live 27 August 2026).
• GIC RTI Rules page — Gujarat RTI Rules 2010 (Gujarati PDF) and Gujarat High Court RTI Rules 2005.
• Gujarat online RTI portal — verified live 27 August 2026.
• RTI Act 2005 — §§7(5), 19(1), 19(3).

Last reviewed: 27 August 2026. Application fee, all payment modes and the BPL position read directly off the Gujarat Information Commission FAQ page today; the Commission-hosted Rules 2010 (Gujarati) and High Court Rules 2005 PDFs linked from the GIC site; onlinerti portal verified 200. The old page's un-sourced Rs 5/hour inspection figure, 'most states' hedging and dead rti.gujarat.gov.in portal removed.