RTI forms — every application, appeal and complaint format

Start with the one fact offices hide: under Section 6(2) of the RTI Act, 2005, an application cannot be rejected for being on the wrong form, and an offline applicant who cannot pay electronically can pay by the accepted instruments of the public authority. Forms earn their keep elsewhere — they put your grounds in the order an appellate body reads, and they carry the statutory hooks — sections, deadlines, reliefs — that a paragraph of prose can drop.

• RTI Application Form A — the universal template
• First appeal under Section 19(1) — within 30 days, free
• Second appeal under Section 19(3) — to the CIC, within 90 days, free
• Section 18 complaint — for institutional non-compliance
• Section 20 penalty petition — ₹250 a day on the PIO
• Fee payment formats — DD, IPO, cash, online
• Section 6(3) transfer — when you filed the wrong authority
• BPL fee waiver — the ₹0 application
• Life-and-liberty 48-hour RTI — Section 7(1) proviso
• Information form — paper, digital or inspection

• Maharashtra Form A
• Uttar Pradesh RTI form
• Karnataka RTI form
• Tamil Nadu RTI form
• RTI Online portal — the Central form

• Annexure D — minor passport consent
• Voter Form 6 — new EPIC
• Aadhaar correction form
• PAN correction form

1. The fee line. ₹10 to a Central public authority under the RTI Rules, 2012, payable online on rtionline.gov.in or by the accepted instruments on paper; a state public authority takes the fee its own rules prescribe — see the fees index. An application with the fee paid and receipted cannot be dismissed as incomplete on that ground.
2. The life-and-liberty marking. Section 7(1) carries a proviso: where the information concerns the life or liberty of a person, the reply is due in 48 hours, not 30 days. Mark it on the application only when it is true — and expect the PIO to act on the marking.
3. The BPL attachment. Section 7(5) exempts a below-poverty-line applicant from the fee — but only if the certificate is attached, which is why the BPL waiver format pairs the two.

Get these three right and the form has done its work; the rest is the substance of the ask.

Real example. Kashvi Pathak's first appeal once failed on a technicality — it named no relief. The second time she used the appeal format with the reliefs section filled, the same FAA allowed the disclosure. The format had not changed her facts; it had put them where the order template looks.

• Fill any form in a minute: AI RTI Drafter
• Appeals: First Appeal Generator
• Check what your filing should cost: RTI fee calculator

No. Section 6(2) allows a plain-paper application; a prescribed format cannot be used to reject you.

First appeal to the department's FAA within 30 days of the PIO decision or silence; the second appeal to the Commission comes only after that.

Under the Central rules and most state rules, no fee is prescribed for appeals.

Where information concerns the life or liberty of a person, Section 7(1) requires it to be provided within 48 hours, not 30 days.

Yes — the Act does not prefer a channel. Online filing gives a registration number at once; a postal application proves its own date of posting.

• RTI fees by state
• File RTI online — the 12-step guide
• Second appeal — CIC or SIC
• The RTI Playbook book

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026.