Road not repaired? RTI to PWD or Municipal Engineer

Sunita rides her two-wheeler to work every morning along a 600-metre stretch of an arterial ward road in a tier-2 municipal corporation city. For three monsoon months now, that stretch has been a ribbon of potholes. Two riders have skidded. One broke a wrist. She has called the municipal helpline four times, each time getting back only an acknowledgement number and a recorded “your complaint has been registered.” The potholes stayed. A faded board near a nearby repair site names a contractor she has never heard of, with a deadline that passed six weeks ago.

Sunita's situation is not rare. Across India, road repair is the single most common civic grievance, and the single most ignored. The road is visible, the damage is obvious, the responsible authority is named on a board or a signboard, yet nothing moves. The reason is rarely a shortage of money. It is the absence of a paper trail that a citizen can see — the work-order that says this contractor was told to fix this stretch by this date, the inspection report that says the work was or was not done, and the penalty clause that says what happens when it was not.

That paper trail is exactly what the Right to Information Act, 2005 was built to surface. This guide shows you, step by step, how to file an RTI for an unrepaired road, which public authority to address depending on the type of road, what specific records to ask for, and how to escalate when the Public Information Officer hides behind “commercial confidence” or simply does not reply. Every fact here is verified against the RTI Act, central RTI rules, government portals, and two landmark orders — one from the Central Information Commission and one from the Bombay High Court — that between them settle the citizen's right to road-repair records.

Before you file, you must know which authority maintains the road. Filing to the wrong office is the number one reason RTIs on roads fail. India's road network is divided by jurisdiction, and each tier has a different public authority, a different PIO, and a different portal.

1. National Highways (NH) are maintained by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), a statutory body created by the National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988, under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). The PIO for a national highway stretch is the Project Director of the relevant NHAI Project Implementation Unit (PIU) / Regional Office. File through the Central RTI portal rtionline.gov.in, selecting MoRTH and then the NHAI office concerned.
2. State Highways and Major District Roads are maintained by the State Public Works Department (PWD) of the state where the road lies — for example, PWD GNCTD in Delhi, Maharashtra PWD, Kerala PWD. The PIO is typically the Executive Engineer or Sub-Divisional Officer of the road's division.
3. City and urban roads are maintained by the Municipal Corporation or Urban Local Body under the state's municipal Act. The PIO is the Municipal Commissioner, zonal Assistant Municipal Commissioner, or City Engineer. In Mumbai, for example, the duty to maintain streets is cast by Section 61 clauses (m), (n) and (o) of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888 and Section 63 of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act, 1949, as confirmed in the Bombay High Court's pothole-roads judgment.
4. Rural roads are built and maintained under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), run by the Ministry of Rural Development through the National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA). At the state level the PIO is the State Programme Director or the Executive Engineer (PWD / Rural Roads Department) of the district concerned.
5. Village roads within a Gram Panchayat are the responsibility of the Gram Panchayat or Block Development Officer.

The first question in your RTI should therefore be a jurisdiction question: “Furnish the classification of [road name], the authority responsible for its maintenance, and the name and designation of the officer in charge.” This single question, asked under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005, settles every later dispute about who should have fixed the road.

A road repair is not a single event. It is a chain of records, and each link in that chain is disclosable under the RTI Act. Understanding the chain tells you exactly what to ask for.

When a stretch needs repair, the responsible division (PWD division or municipal ward) prepares an estimate and issues a work-order to a contractor. The work-order carries the sanctioned amount, the scope (length, area, material), and a completion deadline. As work proceeds, the Measurement Book (MB) records the quantity of work done day by day, and the contractor submits material bills and a Material on Site Register entry. On completion, a departmental officer conducts an inspection and, for larger works, a third-party or lab quality test is performed. A completion certificate is then issued, and the contractor is paid. If the work is defective or delayed, a penalty is levied under the contract's defect-liability and delay clauses.

Every one of these records — work-order, MB entries, material bills, completion certificate, inspection report, quality-test report, penalty register — was held to be disclosable by the Central Information Commission in its landmark Rahul Sharma order of 5 January 2018. The Commission directed PWD GNCTD and CPWD to mandatorily retain authenticated copies of itemised bills prospectively, and held that the PIO could not hide the names of the Junior Engineer or Assistant Engineer by invoking the personal-information exemption. That order is the backbone of any road-repair RTI.

Two developments make 2026 the right moment to file.

First, PMGSY-III has been extended and expanded. On 18 April 2026 the Union Cabinet approved continuation of PMGSY-III beyond March 2025 up to March 2028 (with bridges in hilly areas extended to March 2029), at a revised outlay of Rs.83,977 crore — Central share Rs.54,848 crore and States Rs.29,129 crore, with the Centre funding 60 per cent generally and 90 per cent in North-East and hilly states. As of December 2025, 1,22,393 km had been sanctioned and 1,01,623 km (83 per cent) constructed. A successor, PMGSY-IV, was announced in September 2024 with an outlay of Rs.70,125 crore to connect 25,000 unconnected habitations over five years. Since the scheme's launch in 2000, a total of 7,94,236 km of rural roads and 10,666 bridges have been built, connecting 1,61,561 habitations. If you live on a rural road that was sanctioned under PMGSY but never finished, these numbers are the entry point for your RTI: ask for the sanctioned length, the completed length, and the reason for the gap.

Second, the proactive-disclosure obligation on road works has hardened. Under Section 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act read with the DoPT Office Memorandum dated 15 April 2013, every public authority must suo motu publish, for procurement above Rs.10 lakh, the tender enquiries, the bid awards, the supplier or contractor names, the awarded rates, and the total contract amounts. For most road-repair works this threshold is crossed, which means the work-order, the contractor identity, and the sanctioned amount should already be on the authority's website. When they are not, your RTI is not a fresh demand — it is a demand to comply with an existing legal duty.

1. Step 1 — Identify the road and its authority. Walk the stretch. Photograph every pothole and damaged patch with a date stamp and a geo-tagged location pin. Note any work-site display board (the Bombay High Court PIL mandated display boards at repair sites giving the agency name, work extent, and deadline; analogous boards are required in many states). Then fix the jurisdiction: national highway means NHAI; state highway or major district road means State PWD; city road means the Municipal Corporation; rural road means the PMGSY State Programme Director or the district PWD Executive Engineer. When in doubt, file to both the municipal and the PWD office and let the PIO redirect under Section 6(3) — but starting with the correct office saves 30 days.

1. Step 2 — Draft your questions. Ask for named, dated records, not “details.” Five strong questions:

1. “Furnish the classification of [road name, locality] and the name, designation and address of the officer responsible for its maintenance.”
2. “Furnish a certified copy of the repair work-order issued for the stretch between [landmark] and [landmark], with date, sanctioned amount, scope, and completion deadline.”
3. “Furnish the name, address, GSTIN and PAN of the contractor or agency assigned the repair, and the contract or agreement value.”
4. “Furnish the date and findings of the last departmental inspection of this stretch, including any third-party or lab quality-test report, and the relevant Measurement Book entries.”
5. “Furnish the penalty, if any, levied on the contractor for delay or defective work, with the amount, the clause invoked, and the order date.”

1. Step 3 — Use the right form and fee. Under the RTI Rules, 2012 (G.S.R. 603(E) notified 31 July 2012), the central application fee is Rs.10, payable by Indian Postal Order, court-fee stamp, or cash against receipt at the PIO counter. For NHAI / MoRTH / CPWD applications, file online through rtionline.gov.in and pay by UPI, debit card, credit card, or net banking through the SBI gateway — no IPO is accepted online. Photocopies cost Rs.2 per page (A-3 or smaller); inspection of records is free for the first hour and Rs.5 per subsequent hour; postal charges above Rs.50 are borne by the applicant. BPL applicants are exempt from the fee on production of a BPL certificate, under Section 7(5) read with Rule 5. State fees vary slightly; check your state's RTI Rules.

1. Step 4 — Submit and keep proof. File by hand and take a stamped receiving copy, or send by registered post and keep the acknowledgement, or file online and save the registration number. Proof of submission is your protection if the reply is delayed or denied.

1. Step 5 — Wait 30 days. The PIO must reply within 30 days under Section 7(1) (48 hours where life or liberty is at stake — a road that has already caused injury may qualify, and you should say so in the application). If no reply arrives, the clock for a First Appeal begins the day after the 30-day deadline.

Use the AI RTI draft app at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/ai-rti-draft-app.html to structure your questions, and the timeline calculator at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/timeline-calculator-app.html to track the 30-day reply window and the appeal deadlines precisely.

1. Photocopies or printouts of photographs of the potholes or damaged stretch, with date and geo-tag (not mandatory, but it makes the application concrete and hard to dismiss).
2. A simple sketch or map showing the start and end points of the stretch and nearby landmarks.
3. Copies of any earlier civic complaints and their acknowledgement numbers (helpline, municipal app, PWD grievance portal).
4. A copy of any work-site display board photograph, if available — the contractor name and deadline on the board are your strongest evidence.
5. A BPL certificate, if you are claiming the fee exemption under Section 7(5).
6. The fee payment proof — IPO receipt, court-fee stamp, cash counter receipt, or the online payment reference number.

1. Filing to the wrong authority. A municipal road sent to NHAI, or a state highway sent to the Municipal Commissioner, will be redirected under Section 6(3) and cost you 30 extra days. Confirm the road classification first.
2. Asking vague questions. “Give me road repair details” returns a brochure. Ask for named records with dates — the work-order, the MB entries, the inspection report, the penalty order.
3. Letting the PIO hide behind “commercial confidence.” Section 8(1)(d) protects commercial confidence, but Section 8(2) overrides it where there is larger public interest — and a neglected public road is the textbook public-interest case. The Rahul Sharma CIC order has already held that material bills, MB entries and completion certificates are disclosable; cite it.
4. Accepting “personal information” as a reason to withhold the contractor's identity. Section 8(1)(j) may protect a contractor's bank account number, but the company name, address, GSTIN and PAN remain disclosable. The CIC specifically rejected the attempt to hide even the Junior Engineer's name under this exemption.
5. Forgetting the defect-liability period. Most road contracts carry a defect-liability clause of one to two monsoons after completion. If the repair has already failed within that period, ask whether the contractor was called back and whether penalty was levied — not just whether the work was “done.”
6. Not escalating. A silent PIO is not the end. First Appeal under Section 19(1), then Second Appeal under Section 19(3), then penalty under Section 20(1) — the ladder exists precisely for this.

To: The Central Public Information Officer
    Office of the Executive Engineer, [Division] PWD Circle
    [or: Office of the Municipal Commissioner, [Municipal Corporation]]
    [City, State — PIN]

Subject: Application under Section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 —
         Road repair status of [road name, locality, landmarks]

Sir/Madam,

I, [your name], citizen of India, request the following information under
Section 6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005, relating to the stretch of [road name]
between [landmark A] and [landmark B], approximately [length] metres:

1. The classification of the said road (NH / SH / MDR / city road / rural
   road) and the name, designation and address of the officer responsible
   for its maintenance.

2. A certified copy of the repair work-order issued for this stretch in the
   last 24 months, with date, sanctioned amount, scope of work, and
   completion deadline.

3. The name, registered address, GSTIN and PAN of the contractor or agency
   assigned the said repair, and the contract or agreement value.

4. The date and findings of the last departmental inspection of this
   stretch, including any third-party or laboratory quality-test report,
   and the relevant Measurement Book entries.

5. The penalty, if any, levied on the contractor for delay or defective
   work, with the amount, the contract clause invoked, and the order date;
   if no penalty has been levied, the reasons therefor.

I declare that the information sought is not exempt under Section 8 or
Section 9 of the RTI Act, 2005. The larger public interest in disclosure
of road-repair records is self-evident, the road in question being a
public thoroughfare in a damaged condition affecting the safety of
commuters; accordingly, even if any exemption under Section 8(1)(d) or
8(1)(j) is claimed, I request disclosure under Section 8(2) of the Act.

The information may be furnished in printed/photocopy form. I undertake to
pay the further fee as prescribed under the RTI Rules, 2012 (G.S.R. 603(E))
for photocopies at Rs.2 per page and inspection at Rs.5 per hour beyond the
first free hour, subject to Section 7(5) as applicable.

Fee of Rs.10 is paid herewith by [Indian Postal Order / court-fee stamp /
cash against receipt / online payment reference no. ...].

Date: [dd.mm.yyyy]                              [Signature]
Place: [city]                                    [Name and full address]

File to the office you believe is responsible, and add a jurisdiction question as your first item: “Furnish the classification of the road and the authority responsible for its maintenance.” If that office is not the correct one, the PIO is bound under Section 6(3) to transfer your application to the correct public authority within five days and inform you. To avoid the delay, you may also file a parallel application to the neighbouring authority — but starting with the road type that matches the road's signage is usually right.

Section 8(1)(d) protects commercial confidence, trade secrets and intellectual property, but Section 8(2) mandates disclosure wherever there is larger public interest that outweighs the harm. A neglected public road is a clear case of public interest. The Central Information Commission, in the Rahul Sharma v. PIO, Executive Engineer, PWD GNCTD order of 5 January 2018 (lead case CIC/PWDDL/A/2017/178894, eleven clubbed matters), held that material procurement bills, the Material on Site Register, Measurement Book entries, completion certificates, vendor lists and the abstract of cost are all disclosable, and that no exemption under Section 8 applies. Cite this order in your appeal if the PIO refuses.

Two things change. First, the 48-hour reply rule under Section 7(1) may apply, since life and liberty are at stake — state this explicitly in your application. Second, the Bombay High Court in High Court On Its Own Motion v. State of Maharashtra (PIL Criminal No. 71 of 2013), final judgment delivered on 24 February and 12 April 2018, held that a citizen who suffers injury or death due to the negligent condition of a road may seek compensation as a public-law remedy for infringement of Article 21, and that every road authority — municipal corporation, MMRDA, MSRDC, Mumbai Port Trust, CIDCO, NHAI, State PWD — has a mandatory statutory duty to maintain roads. Your RTI records become the evidence for that compensation claim.

Go to rtionline.gov.in, register, select the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, then choose NHAI and the relevant PIU or Regional Office. Fill in your questions, upload any attachments, and pay the Rs.10 fee through the SBI payment gateway by UPI, debit card, credit card or net banking. No Indian Postal Order is accepted online. Save the registration number — it is your proof of filing and your reference for the First Appeal. See RTI for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know Before Filing Your for the general online-filing walkthrough.

No. Bank account numbers and other purely personal financial particulars of the contractor are protected under Section 8(1)(j). However, the company or firm name, registered address, GSTIN and PAN are not personal information in the same sense and remain disclosable — they are the identity of a public contractor performing a public work. The CIC has repeatedly drawn this distinction.

File a First Appeal under Section 19(1) to the First Appellate Authority — typically the Executive Engineer or Chief Engineer for PWD, or the Additional Municipal Commissioner for a corporation — within 30 days of the expiry of the reply period. The FAA must decide within 30 days, extendable to 45. If the FAA also fails, file a Second Appeal under Section 19(3) to the State Information Commission for state and municipal roads, or the Central Information Commission for NHAI and central works, within 90 days. You can also seek a penalty up to Rs.25,000 on the PIO under Section 20(1) for refusal or mala fide delay, and directions under Section 19(8)(a) for the authority to retain records and publish suo motu. Draft and track your appeal with the first-appeal app at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/first-appeal-app.html, and check the adequacy of any reply you do get with the PIO reply checker at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/pio-reply-checker-app.html.

Yes. The Rahul Sharma CIC order expressly held that Material on Site Register entries, material procurement bills, Measurement Book entries, completion certificates, vendor lists and the abstract of cost are all disclosable, and directed PWD GNCTD and CPWD to mandatorily retain authenticated copies of itemised bills prospectively under Section 19(8)(a)(iv). Ask for “certified copies of the relevant MB entries and the contractor's material bills for the work in question.”

Yes. Under Section 7(5) of the RTI Act read with Rule 5 of the RTI Rules, 2012, applicants Below Poverty Line are exempt from the application fee and from the cost of photocopies, on production of a valid BPL certificate. If you are a BPL cardholder, attach a copy of the certificate and state the exemption in your application.

No. The RTI Act was designed for direct citizen use. The sample letter above, the five-question structure, and the escalation ladder are all you need. The No Action on Your Complaint? How to Use RTI to Force Government guide covers the related case where a civic complaint is already pending and you want to force action on it; the RTI for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know Before Filing Your guide covers the basics of the Act for first-time filers.

Yes. You can dictate your RTI application to the Public Information Officer at the office counter and have it recorded in writing, or use the Awaaz RTI tool at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/awaaz-rti.html, which helps non-literate and low-vision citizens prepare and file an RTI by voice.

1. Right to Information Act, 2005 — full text (Sections 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 19, 20): [indiankanoon.org](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/13503/)
2. RTI Rules, 2012 (G.S.R. 603(E) notified 31 July 2012) — fee and costs: [niti.gov.in](https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2025-07/RTI%20Rules%20Final%20PDF.pdf)
3. Central RTI online portal — filing and FAQ: [rtionline.gov.in](https://rtionline.gov.in/faq.php)
4. DoPT Office Memorandum dated 15 April 2013 — suo motu disclosure of procurement above Rs.10 lakh: [cic.gov.in](https://cic.gov.in/sites/default/files/DOPT%20OM15.04.2013.pdf)
5. CIC order — Rahul Sharma v. PIO, Executive Engineer, PWD GNCTD (11 clubbed matters), decided 5 January 2018, lead case CIC/PWDDL/A/2017/178894: [business-standard.com](https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/maintain-material-bills-submitted-by-contractors-cic-to-pwd-118020400193_1.html) ; full order PDF at [righttoinformation.wiki](https://righttoinformation.wiki/_media/guide/applicant/application/sample/2018-01-31-174720rahul_sharma_11_cases.pdf)
6. Bombay High Court — High Court On Its Own Motion v. State of Maharashtra and Others, PIL (Criminal) No. 71 of 2013 (suo motu potholed-roads PIL; final judgment 24 February and 12 April 2018): [indiankanoon.org](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/28052284/) ; full judgment PDF at [roadsafetynetwork.in](https://www.roadsafetynetwork.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/bombay-high-court-suo-moto-PIL-71-of-2013-potholed-roads-final-judgment.pdf)
7. PMGSY / NRIDA — scheme progress and state-wise works dashboard: [pmgsy.nic.in](https://pmgsy.nic.in/nrida/pmgsy.html)
8. PIB — Union Cabinet approves continuation of PMGSY-III up to March 2028, revised outlay Rs.83,977 crore (18 April 2026): [pib.gov.in](https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2253247&lang=1&reg=3)
9. National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988 and NHAI RTI / PIO list: [nhai.gov.in](https://nhai.gov.in)

1. RTI for national highway construction status
2. RTI for bridge construction delay
3. RTI for flyover status
4. RTI for non-functional streetlights
5. RTI for clogged drainage
6. RTI for road encroachment action
7. RTI when a civic complaint is ignored
8. RTI for municipal tax receipt
9. RTI for beginners

Last reviewed: 4 July 2026.