File RTI in West Bengal: Bengali Template & GRIPS Payment

To file an RTI in West Bengal you write a short application (in Bengali or English), pay the Rs 10 fee, and send it to the Public Information Officer of the department you are asking about. You can pay by court-fee stamp, Indian Postal Order or demand draft, and several state departments now also let you pay online through the GRIPS portal. The officer must answer within 30 days.

A Bengali-speaking citizen in West Bengal has a full legal right to file an RTI in Bengali. The Right to Information Act 2005 lets you apply in the official language of the area, and Bengali is the official language of the state. Yet most online help, sample letters and department websites are in English, and the fee-payment step is confusing because there is no single all-India online window. This guide gives you a ready Bengali template, explains how the Rs 10 fee actually gets paid in West Bengal, and shows you how to point the application at the correct officer.

• Your right to apply in Bengali. RTI Act 2005, s.6(1) lets you make a request in writing or through electronic means in English, Hindi, or the official language of the area. In West Bengal that official language is Bengali, so a Bengali application is fully valid.
• The fee. The West Bengal Right to Information Rules, 2006 fix the application fee at rupees ten. The rule says the application “shall be accompanied with a court-fee of rupees ten or a non-judicial Stamp Paper of rupees ten, or by Demand Draft or Bankers Cheques or Indian Postal Order.”
• No fee if you are BPL. Under RTI Act 2005, s.7(5), “no such fee shall be charged from the persons who are of below poverty line.” You attach proof of your BPL status instead of the fee.
• The 30-day clock. Under s.7(1) the officer must “either provide the information … or reject the request … within thirty days of the receipt of the request.” For matters touching the life or liberty of a person, the limit is 48 hours.

Keep it short and factual. Name yourself, state exactly what records you want and for which period, and add the one line that turns a letter into a legal RTI: a request under s.6(1) of the RTI Act 2005. Here is a clean Bengali template you can copy and fill in.

সেবায়,
জন তথ্য আধিকারিক (Public Information Officer),
[দপ্তরের নাম ও ঠিকানা]

বিষয়: তথ্যের অধিকার আইন, ২০০৫-এর অধীনে তথ্যের জন্য আবেদন।

মহাশয়,

তথ্যের অধিকার আইন, ২০০৫-এর ৬(১) ধারা অনুযায়ী আমি নিম্নলিখিত তথ্য চাইছি:

১। [আপনার প্রথম প্রশ্ন - নির্দিষ্ট নথি, তারিখ ও সময়কাল উল্লেখ করুন]
২। [আপনার দ্বিতীয় প্রশ্ন]
৩। [আপনার তৃতীয় প্রশ্ন]

আবেদন ফি বাবদ ১০ (দশ) টাকা [কোর্ট ফি স্ট্যাম্প / ইন্ডিয়ান পোস্টাল অর্ডার নং ......... / GRIPS চালান নং .........] মাধ্যমে জমা দেওয়া হল।

[দারিদ্র্যসীমার নিচে হলে: আমি দারিদ্র্যসীমার নিচে (BPL) শ্রেণিভুক্ত, তাই কোনো ফি প্রযোজ্য নয়; প্রমাণপত্রের কপি সংযুক্ত করা হল।]

চাহিত তথ্য ডাকযোগে / ই-মেলে নিম্নলিখিত ঠিকানায় পাঠানোর অনুরোধ রইল।

ধন্যবাদান্তে,
[আপনার নাম]
[সম্পূর্ণ ঠিকানা]
[ফোন নম্বর / ই-মেল]
তারিখ: .........
স্বাক্ষর: .........

If you prefer to type in English, the same fields work; the law does not require Bengali, it only allows it.

An RTI must go to the Public Information Officer of the body that holds the record. Sending it to the wrong office wastes 30 days. A few common ones:

• Civic and municipal matters in Kolkata (water, roads, mutation, building plans): the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), which publishes its Public Information Officers and First Appellate Authorities on its official site, kmcgov.in.
• Electricity supply, billing, new connections in most of the state: WBSEDCL (West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited). Its State Public Information Officer is the Senior Manager (HR&A) at Vidyut Bhavan, Block DJ, Sector II, Salt Lake, Kolkata 700091.
• Block, panchayat, ration, land or police matters: the PIO of that specific block office, panchayat, food office, BL&LRO or police station.

If you are not sure who holds the file, address it to the PIO of the parent department and, under s.6(3), the officer is legally bound to transfer it to the correct public authority within five days.

You have two routes. Pick whichever your department supports.

1. Offline (works everywhere). Attach a Rs 10 court-fee stamp to the application, or enclose a Rs 10 Indian Postal Order / demand draft / bankers cheque drawn in favour of the bank account named by that department for “Government of West Bengal, RTI Act.” This is the method KMC, WBSEDCL and most offices expect.
2. Online via GRIPS (for departments that offer it). Several state departments, such as the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department, let you pay through the Government Receipt Portal System (GRIPS) at wbifms.gov.in. As the department confirms, “Payment of requisite amount of Rs 10/- can be made through GRIPS portal.” You generate a GRIPS challan, pay by net-banking, and quote the challan number on your application.

Note the GRIPS option is offered by particular departments that run online RTI filing; it is not a universal counter, and bodies like KMC and WBSEDCL still take the fee by IPO, cash or court-fee stamp. If you are below the poverty line, skip the fee entirely and attach your BPL proof instead.

The cost of getting the copies is separate: the WB Rules charge Rupees two for each A-4 or A-3 page the office creates or copies for you. The first 30 days of the application carry no such charge.

Send the application by speed post or registered post (keep the receipt) or hand it in and get a dated acknowledgement. The 30-day clock starts the day the PIO receives it. If the answer is late, wrong, or refused, you escalate.

• Application fee: Rs 10 (court-fee stamp, IPO, DD, bankers cheque, or GRIPS where offered).
• BPL applicants: no fee, attach BPL proof (RTI Act 2005, s.7(5)).
• Copying charge: Rs 2 per A-4 / A-3 page.
• No reply in 30 days, or unhappy with the reply: file a first appeal to the First Appellate Authority of that same department, normally within 30 days. The first appeal carries no fee.
• Still no satisfaction: a second appeal or complaint to the West Bengal Information Commission within 90 days. The Commission confirms “No fee is required to be paid alongwith the second appeal/complaint.” You can file it at wbic.gov.in; the Commission's facilitation helpline is 033-22520509.

Yes. RTI Act 2005, s.6(1) allows a request in the official language of the area, and Bengali is the official language of West Bengal. A Bengali application is fully valid; the PIO cannot reject it for being in Bengali. The template above is ready to copy.

By a Rs 10 court-fee stamp on the application, or a Rs 10 Indian Postal Order, demand draft or bankers cheque in favour of the department's RTI bank account. Some departments, such as Personnel and Administrative Reforms, also accept online payment through the GRIPS portal at wbifms.gov.in. KMC and WBSEDCL take the fee offline.

No. GRIPS is an online option offered by certain West Bengal government departments that run online RTI filing. The West Bengal RTI Rules 2006 themselves list only the offline modes, and many bodies, including the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and WBSEDCL, still expect a court-fee stamp, IPO or cash.

Under s.7(1) the PIO must answer within 30 days; if there is no reply, it is treated as a deemed refusal. File a free first appeal to the department's First Appellate Authority within 30 days. If that fails, take a second appeal to the West Bengal Information Commission within 90 days, with no fee.

Send it to the public authority that holds the record. Civic issues in Kolkata go to the KMC; electricity issues go to WBSEDCL; ration, land, panchayat or police matters go to that specific office. If unsure, address the parent department, which must transfer a wrongly-addressed RTI to the right authority within five days under s.6(3).

No. Under RTI Act 2005, s.7(5), no fee is charged from persons below the poverty line. Instead of the Rs 10 fee, attach a copy of your BPL ration card or certificate as proof, and write a line in the application stating you are exempt.

The application fee is Rs 10. Beyond that, the West Bengal RTI Rules charge Rupees two for each A-4 or A-3 page the office copies or creates. So a 20-page answer would cost about Rs 40 in copying charges, billed after the PIO tells you the amount.

• Draft it in seconds. Use the AI RTI Drafter to turn your question into a clean, section-cited RTI you can paste into the Bengali template above.
• If the deadline passes, build your escalation with the First Appeal Builder and then, if needed, take a second appeal to the West Bengal Information Commission at wbic.gov.in.
• Track the clock. Use the RTI Timeline Calculator so you know the exact day the 30-day limit expires.
• Go deeper. Read The RTI Playbook for the full citizen's strategy on framing questions, beating evasive replies, and winning appeals.

• The West Bengal Right to Information Rules, 2006 (official PDF, Law Department / s3waas)
• Right to Information Act, 2005, sections 6 and 7 (rti.gov.in; Section 7 on Indian Kanoon)
• Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department, Government of West Bengal, RTI login / GRIPS note (par.wb.gov.in)
• Government Receipt Portal System, Government of West Bengal (wbifms.gov.in)
• WBSEDCL official RTI page (wbsedcl.in)
• Kolkata Municipal Corporation, PIO and Appellate Authorities (kmcgov.in)
• West Bengal Information Commission, FAQ (wbic.wb.gov.in)