State RTI portal vs central RTI portal — which to use
Quick Reply: Use rtionline.gov.in ONLY for Central ministries, departments, PSUs and Central universities (Railways, Income Tax, MEA, Defence, Posts…). For state information — police, land, revenue, municipality, state schools and hospitals — use the state portal or plain post to the PIO. The portal follows the public authority, not your address.
Quick decision tree
- Held by a Central ministry, Central PSU, or Central autonomous body? → rtionline.gov.in
- Held by your state government, state police, municipality, or state PSU? → the state portal (see the directory) or Speed Post to the PIO
- Held by a constitutional body (ECI, CAG, UPSC)? → that body's own CPIO / RTI cell
- Held by a court or the judiciary? → the court's Registrar (Administrative side) — the RTI Act applies to the judiciary's administrative records
- Private company (bank, insurer, telecom)? → not under RTI directly; seek the regulator, or the information “accessible by a public authority under any other law” (§2(f)) through that authority
Why this matters
Filing on the wrong portal burns 30 days. The wrong PIO's only lawful move is a §6(3) transfer within 5 days — but many offices simply sit on misrouted applications or close them. Confirm jurisdiction first; the decision tree above takes a minute.
Portal reality, August 2026
| Status | States | Notes |
| Working well | Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka (UPI), Odisha | Karnataka takes UPI on-portal — the smoothest |
| Working, with caveats | Punjab (routing patchy), and most large states | Keep the registration number; wrong routing is the PIO's transfer duty, not a closure ground |
| Down / postal-only | Tamil Nadu (portal down, July 2026 status — postal works), Kerala (portal currently unavailable) | Speed Post with preserved POD is the clean filing proof |
The full 36-entry list with live status: State RTI Portals Directory; fees and appeal fees per state: the state fee hub. Postal filing works in every state, always — ₹10 by IPO, addressed to the PIO by name and designation.
Filing mechanics that trip people
- Fee: ₹10 in most states (Gujarat ₹20); BPL applicants file free everywhere on a certificate copy.
- Language: file in the state's language or English/Hindi as the area allows (§6(1)); the central portal is English/Hindi.
- One subject per application — a mixed grab-bag invites the “vague” rejection.
- Transfer rule: if you aimed wrong, the receiving PIO must transfer within 5 days (§6(3)) — quote it when a closure lands instead.
FAQs
I live in Delhi but need a Tamil Nadu land record — which portal?
The authority holding it decides: Tamil Nadu state (postal, while its portal is down). Your residence never decides jurisdiction.
Central scheme run by a state office — central or state?
Whoever holds the record. A state district office implementing a Central scheme holds its files — state route. Ministry-level scheme files sit with the Centre.
The state portal is down — do I wait?
Never. Post it — the Act is portal-independent; the 30-day clock runs from delivery to the PIO.
Wrong portal closed my application — dead end?
No: first appeal citing §6(3) and the closure's illegality; the transfer duty survives misfiling.
Related
Last reviewed: 27 August 2026. Portal-status table re-based on the 26-August-2026 hub verification (Tamil Nadu moved from “working well” to postal-only; Kerala flagged unavailable); broken description rebuilt; transfer-rule and mechanics sections added.
More comparisons: browse every RTI-vs-alternative side-by-side in RTI vs Alternatives: the full comparison hub <!– rti-wiki-comparisons-hub-2026-vs-start –>