Municipal complaint RTI: get the action-taken report

Municipalities are the government most people actually touch, and the 74th Constitutional Amendment gave urban local bodies constitutional status with the functions listed in the Twelfth Schedule — water supply, roads, sanitation, street lighting among them. What the amendment could not fix was the silence after the complaint is registered. That silence has a paper shape: every complaint number carries an action-taken record, an officer's name and a charter timeline. The RTI's job is to make that shape visible.

Before the RTI, use the channels that create records:

• Your city's municipal app or 311-style helpline — log the complaint, keep the number.
• MoHUA's Swachhata app for sanitation complaints — it too generates a complaint ID.
• The ward office diary — an old-fashioned written complaint with a stamped receiving copy still works.
• Escalation cells — most corporations run a Mayor's or Commissioner's grievance cell.

Each channel produces one thing you need: a numbered, dated complaint. The RTI then asks what became of that number.

• The action-taken report on your complaint number — work done, dates, completion proof.
• The file notings from receipt to closure — who marked it to whom, when.
• The citizen-charter or service-level timeline for that grievance type, and the reason for crossing it.
• The name and designation of the officer responsible for the ward or subject.
• Action on earlier complaints on the same spot in the last twelve months — this converts your one complaint into a pattern, which is what Commissions and courts act on.

Kashvi Pathak's lane had a street light dead for a rainy season. The app closed her complaint twice — “rectified” — with the light still dark. Her RTI asked for the action-taken report with the replacement work order number, the date and shift of the attending lineman, and the charter timeline for street-light repairs. The reply conceded no work order had ever been issued; a closure entry had been made on the app alone. The light was replaced within the month, and a copy of the reply went to the ward committee. One application, three questions, and the record contradicted the app — that is the entire method.

To:
The Public Information Officer,
[Municipal Corporation / Council / Municipality], [city]

Subject: Application under section 6, RTI Act 2005 —
action taken on complaint No. [NUMBER] dated [DATE]

Sir/Madam, in respect of complaint No. [NUMBER] dated
[DATE] regarding [SUBJECT] at [LOCATION], Ward [NUMBER],
kindly provide:

1. The action-taken report on the complaint: work
   ordered, executed, and completion date, with the
   work order number.
2. File notings from receipt of the complaint to its
   present stage, with dates.
3. The citizen-charter or notified timeline for
   redress of this grievance type, and the reason for
   delay beyond it.
4. The name and designation of the officer responsible
   for this ward and subject.
5. The number of complaints on the same subject at the
   same location in the last 12 months, and action
   taken on each.

Application fee of Rs. 10 paid as per state rules.

Yours faithfully,
[Name, address, phone]

• File to the ULB that runs the service — corporation, council or municipality. Not the state PWD unless the asset is the PWD's.
• In Delhi, the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi covers the municipal areas since the 2022 merger; the New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Cantonment Board run their own.
• In Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation; in other cities, the corporation or council named on your property tax bill is the right office.

• Day 30, no reply — first appeal within 30 days under section 19(1); FAA decision within 30, extendable to 45.
• Empty reply — second appeal to the State Information Commission within 90 days of the FAA order under section 19(3).
• Pattern established — repeated closures without work justify a complaint to the municipal commissioner, the ward committee, and where the state has one, the Lokayukta. Attach the RTI reply; a documented false closure is a serious thing for an officer.

• Omitting the ward number or complaint number — the record cannot be located without them.
• Asking “when will my light be fixed” instead of asking for the action-taken report and work order.
• Filing to the state government for a municipal function.
• Letting a “resolved” app status end the matter — verify on the ground, then ask for the completion proof.

That is precisely when to file. Ask for the work order and completion date behind the “resolved” status. A closure without a work order cannot survive its own paper trail.

Yes — ask for the action taken on the complaint, the inspection report, and the notices issued under the municipal building law. For deeper building-plan questions see the layout approval RTI guide.

Yes — contracts and work orders are public records; third-party confidentiality does not attach to public works. Payment details of contractors on municipal works are routinely disclosed.

Whichever body holds the record: the development authority for its roads, the water board for its lines. A PIO cannot refuse for not holding a record — section 6(3) obliges transfer to the right office within five days.

• Garbage collection RTI
• Drainage complaint RTI
• Layout approval RTI
• File RTI online — 12 steps
• RTI — 25 questions answered
• The RTI Playbook book — the complete drafting and appeals guide.

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026.