RTI myths: what you can ask, what you cannot

The Right to Information Act, 2005 is short, citizen-side, and drafted to override older secrecy habits — section 22 gives it effect notwithstanding inconsistent laws. Yet the folklore around it is thicker than the Act itself. Below, each myth is stated the way it is actually said at counters and tea stalls, then corrected.

1. “You must give a reason for asking.” Section 6(2) says an applicant is not required to give any reason or personal details beyond those needed to contact him. Asking why you want the information is not a ground for refusing it.

2. “Only journalists and activists can file.” Section 6(1) asks for one thing: that the applicant be a citizen of India. Occupation, age, purpose — all irrelevant.

3. “You need a lawyer or an NGO.” The application is a letter with your questions and the fee. Nothing in the Act requires representation, drafting skill, or affiliation.

4. “'Why' questions get answers.” The Supreme Court held in Khanapuram Gandaiah (2010) that the RTI Act covers information held by the authority — a PIO need not create information, deduce conclusions, or answer abstract “why” questions. Ask for the noting, the file, the record: the document answers the why.

5. “File notings are secret.” Section 2(f) defines information as material in any form — records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports. Notings are records like any other, subject only to section 8.

6. “Answer sheets cannot be disclosed.” The Supreme Court in CBSE v. Aditya Bandopadhyay (2011) held that an examinee is entitled to inspect and receive a copy of their own evaluated answer book. The page you are told does not exist, exists.

7. “The PIO can refuse if he feels like it.” Refusals must stand on a listed exemption in section 8(1), or on section 9, or on the disproportionate-diversion ground of section 7(9). Every refusal must be communicated with reasons within the time limit — and every reason is appealable.

8. “RTI is free.” The central application fee is Rs 10 payable to the Accounts Officer; most states also charge Rs 10 (Gujarat charges more) with state-specific payment modes. Below Poverty Line applicants are exempt from the fee on producing a BPL certificate.

9. “Only the office in Delhi can be asked.” Every public authority — district office, municipal body, university, PSU, court establishment — must designate a PIO. You file where the record sits.

10. “One RTI per topic, or per year.” There is no quota. What the law does allow, under section 7(9), is refusal where supplying the information would disproportionately divert the authority's resources — aimed at genuinely disproportionate demands, not at persistent citizens.

11. “Asking about another person is illegal.” Third-party information attracts section 8(1)(j) — personal information with no public interest in disclosure — but where larger public interest justifies it, the section itself allows disclosure. Income and assets of public servants, spending of public funds, and statutory registers are not private.

12. “Online filing works only for central ministries.” Many states run their own online RTI portals alongside the central portal. Check the state RTI portals directory before assuming a trip to the post office.

13. “If the office ignores it, nothing happens.” Ignoring an RTI is a deemed refusal, and section 19 gives you a first appeal within 30 days and a second appeal to the Information Commission within 90 days of the first-appellate order. Commissions also penalise PIOs for deemed refusals without reasonable cause.

14. “The reply will take years.” Section 7(1) fixes 30 days — 48 hours where the information concerns life or liberty. Delay beyond that is a default, not a norm, and it is the appeal's starting point.

15. “RTI is dead / too weakened to bother.” The Act's core machinery — 30-day replies, the appeal ladder, the section 8 exemptions list, the override in section 22 — is intact and in daily use. The evidence is the crore-plus applications filed since 2005 and the commissions' continuing output. Cynicism is the only undefeated myth on this list.

Ask for records that exist: file movement, notings, registers, orders, sanction letters, bills, correspondence. Give dates and reference numbers. One subject per application. Fee paid correctly. Reason not given — because you do not owe one. If the reply disappoints, the appeal clock is already in this page.

To:
The Public Information Officer, [office, address]

Sir/Madam, under section 6 of the RTI Act 2005, kindly
provide, in respect of [subject with reference number
and dates]:

1. [The record you seek — a file, a register entry,
   a noting, an order].
2. [Its date-wise movement].
3. [The rule, norm or charter provision applied].

Rs. 10 application fee paid as per rules.
[Name, address, phone]

The section 8(1) list: sovereignty and security matters, forbidden publications, court confidence, trade secrets and commercial confidence (where public interest does not require), fiduciary information, received in confidence from foreign governments, endangers life or safety, impedes investigation, cabinet papers before decisions, and personal information without public interest. Everything else is askable.

Frame questions as record requests. Not “did the engineer approve this?” but “provide the approval or rejection order of the engineer on file X, with date”. The information is the same; only one framing is lawful tender.

Section 7(9) lets the authority supply the record as it exists rather than in a particular form. It does not authorise refusals — the record, not a summary, is what you are owed.

• Landmark RTI cases
• RTI form format
• File RTI online — 12 steps
• RTI fees by state
• RTI — 25 questions answered
• The RTI Playbook book — the complete drafting and appeals guide.

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026.