How To File An RTI Application: A Complete Guide

INTRODUCTION

Right to Information (RTI) application can be filed under the Right to Information Act, 2005, by any Indian citizen irrespective of his/her gender, caste, class, creed, and colour for any information from the government about its functioning, services, projects or any other thing relating to it. The act makes it mandatory for the government to reply to the citizen’s application which requests for any information in the public domain. The main objective of the act is to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions and for matters connected with it or incidental to it. The Act binds the officials to reply to the application within the set period of 30 days from the receipt of an application under section-7 and if the same has not been satisfied then penalty up to INR 25,000 can be imposed along with other legal obligations. It is an initiative taken by the Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions to provide an RTI Portal Gateway to the citizens for quick search of information on the details of first Appellate Authorities, PIOs, etc. RTI application can be filed through electronic means as well as through offline means.

STEPS FOR FILLING ONLINE APPLICATION

1. Firstly one should know the department to which he/she want to file an RTI application. You can also do a quick research about it before.
2. The URL of the RTI software is: For submitting RTI application click on submit request option given on this https://rtionline.gov.in RTI software link.
3. After clicking on submitting request ‘Guidelines for using RTI ONLINE PORTAL' will be displayed on your screen that contains various guidelines for using RTI online portal. The citizen has to click on the agree button once read all the given guidelines and then click on the submit button.
4. Then Online RTI Request Form will be displayed on the screen. Ministry or Department can be selected from Select Ministry/Department/Apex body dropdown for which the citizen wants to file an RTI application.
5. In case the person making the application has entered his/her mobile no., she/he will receive SMS alerts for the same. The fields marked with star mark (*) are mandatory while the others are optional.
6. If an applicant belongs to BPL(below poverty line) category, (s)he has to select the option 'Yes' in the given field and has to upload a BPL card certificate in supporting the document field and as per 2012 rules no RTI fees to be paid by such category persons.
7. The applicant can elaborate its application within a limit of 3000 words and the words used must be simple and clear.
8. On submission of the application, a unique Registration ID will be issued, which may be used by the applicant for any future reference.
9. Non-BPL category citizen has to make a fee payment of Rs 10 as prescribed in the RTI Rules, 2012 through any online means.
10. After filling all the details proceed to make payment by clicking on the option. The payment mode can be selected in the displayed form, which can be; internet banking, ATM-cum-debit card or credit card or any other shown option like UPI.
11. After clicking on the 'Pay' button, the applicant will be directed to SBI payment gateway for payment processing and further completion of the payment process will take the applicant back to RTI Online Portal.
12. The applicant will receive an email and an SMS alert on the submission of his/her application after the last click on the submit button.

STEPS FOR FILING OFFLINE COMPLAIN

A citizen with no internet access can use offline mode to seek any information from the government by the following steps:

1. Language of application - Write an application, can be handwritten or typed in English, Hindi or in any official language of your area. Although there is no specific format of the application specified by the central government some states have a given format that needs to be followed while writing/typing an RTI application.
2. Details of the concerned authority- Address your application to the Central or State Public Information Officer (PIO) or Assistant PIO from which the citizen wants to get the information.
3. The subject of the application - Subject of the application must be “Seeking information under RTI Act, 2005”. The full address and name of the office from which information is asked must be written.
4. Body of the application - Question on details or information asked must be written in the body of the application. You need not write the reason for filing an RTI application.
5. Details of applicant - Full name, address, contact details, e-mail address and a sign of the applicant must be provided along with the date of filing the application.
6. Fees - Fees of Rs 10 must be paid for filing the application. That can be paid in any form i.e. cash, money order, bank draft or court fee stamp. Below the poverty line applicant is not required to pay any fees but must attach a copy of the BPL certificate along with the application.
7. Copy of application - Applicant must keep a copy of his/her application with himself before sending it to the authority.
8. Acknowledgement slip - Application can be sent via post or deliver personally to the concerned department and get an acknowledgement slip for future reference.

RTI APPEAL

When the applicant is not satisfied with the reply of the Public Information Officer (POI) or assistant POI or PIO rejects citizen's request for information, then an appeal can be filed before the appellate authority or before the senior officer within 30 days of receipt of the reply to the application. It concludes that RTI request-id an application process whereas, RTI appeal is the appellate process.

An appeal can also be filed on the same abovementioned URL for filing an RTI application by clicking on the ‘submit first appeal’ option. Security code given on filing RTI application must be mentioned in the appeal. The applicant has to specify the ground for filing an appeal in the displayed field. Lastly, there are no fees that have to be paid on filing RTI appeal and on submission a unique registration number will be provided for future reference.

[The author, Pratibha Bansal is a final year law student at Banasthali Vidhyapith, Rajasthan]