[PDF]Right to Information Act (India) 2005

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EmtAORlMNARY
PARXn— SccflMl

PUBLISHED BY AUIHORriY •

^ 251 ^ ftWft, "JfrlWB^ ip 21, VKOSn^ 31, 1927

No. 25] NEW DELHI, TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2005/JYABTHA31i 1927

S^»ratep«gfagbgivtBtotliitPMtiaonier«hrtttuMyb« flledM>i
MINISTRYOFLAW AND JUSTICE
O^iegislative Department)

New Delhi. thellstJune, 2Wi5IJyaistha'i\, l927{Saka)

The following Act of Parliament received the assent of the President on
the 15tii June, 200S, and is had>y published tot general mfomutionr—

THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACTi 2005
No.22of2005

[lSthJune,2(i05.]

An Act to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information
for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public
authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability mthe
workingofeveiypubUcauthority,theconstitiitionof^ Central Mnmation
Commission and State Information Commissions and for matters
connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Whereas the Constitution of India has established democratic Republic;

And whereas democracy requires an informed citizenry aftd transparency of
information which ace vital to its functioning and alsp to contain comq>tion and to hold
Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed;

And whereas revelationof information in actual practice is likely to conflict with other
public interests including effici^t opcMions of the Governments^ opdmiun use of limited
fiscal resources anil the preservation of fonfidenfiality of sei^itive Infixmation;



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And whereas it is necessary to harmonise these conflicting interests while preserving
the paramountcy of the democratic ideal;

Now, THEREFORE, it is expedient to provide for furnishing certain information to citizens
who desire to have it.

Be it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-sixth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—

CHAPTER I
Preliminary

Short title, 1. (/) This Act may be called the Right to Information Act, 200S.

^^J^^^^^JIJ^j (2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

(3) The provisions of sub-section (7) of section 4, sub-sections (/) and (2) of
section 5, sections 1 2, 1 3, 1 5, 1 6, 24, 27 and 28 shall come into force at once, and the remaining
provisions of this Act shall come into force on the one hundred and twentieth day of its
enactment.

Definitions. 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, —

(a) "appropriate Government" means in relation to a public authority which is
established, constituted, owned, controlled or substantially financed by fiinds
provided directly or indirectly —

(0 by the Central Government or the Union territory administration, the
Central Government;

(//) by the State Government, the State Government;

(b) "Central Information Commission" means the Central Information Commission
constituted under sub-section (7) of section 12;

(c) "Central Public Information Officer" means the Central Public Information
Officer designated under sub-section (7) and includes a Central Assistant Public
Information Officer designated as such under sub-section (2) of section 5;

(d) "Chief Information Commissioner" and "Information Commissioner" mean
the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioner appointed under
sub-section (3) of section 12;

(e) "competent authority" means —

(0 the Speaker in the case of the House of the People or the Legislative
Assembly of a State or a Union territory having such Assembly and the
Chairman in the case of the Council of States or Legislative Council of a State;

(//) the Chief Justice of India in the case of the Supreme Court;

(///) the Chief Justice of the High Court in the case of a High Court;

(/v) the President or the Governor, as the case may be, in the case of other
authorities established or constituted by or under the Constitution;

(v) the administrator appointed under article 239 of the Constitution;

(/) "information'' means any material in any form, including records, documents,
memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts,
reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and
information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority
under any other law for the time being in force;

(g) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act by the
appropriate Government or the competent authority, as the case may be;

(h) "public authority" means any authority or body or institution of self-
government established or constituted —

(a) by or under the Constitution;

(b) by any other law made by Parliament;



Sec. 11



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(c) by any other law made by State Legislature;

(d) by notification issued or order niade by the appropriate Government,
and includes any —

(0 body owned, controlled or substantially financed;
07) non-Government organisation substantially financed,
directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government;
(0 "record" includes —

(a) any document, manuscript and file;

(b) any microfilm, microfiche and facsimile copy of a document;

(c) any reproduction of image or images embodied in such microfilm
(whether enlarged or not); and

id) any other material produced by a computer or any otfier device;

(/) '"right to information*' means the right to information accessible under this
Act which is held by or under die control of any public authority and includes the
right to—

(0 inspection of work, documents, records;

(//) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records;
(Hi) taking certified samples of material;

(rv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video
cassettes or in any odier electronic mode or through printouts where such
information is stored in a computer or in any other device;

(k) **State Information Commission" means the State Information Commission
constituted under sub-section (/) of section IS;

(I) ''State Chief Information Commissioner** and "Slate bifonnatton Commisskxier**
mean the State Chief Information Commissioner«nd the State bifonnatkmOxnmissioner
appointed under sub-section (3) of section IS;

(m) **State Public Information Officer** means the State Public Information Officer
designated under sub-section (/) and mcludes a State Assistant Public Information
Officer designated as such under sub-section (2) of section S;

(n) "third party*' means a person other than the citizen making a reqi;^ for
information and includes a public authority.

CHAPTERH

Right to information and obligations of public authoiuties

3. Subject to the provisions of this Act, all citizens shall have the right to information. Right to

infonnttion.

4. (/) Every public authority shall — Obligations

(a) maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and t^^ au£orities.
which facilitates the right to information under this Act and ensure that all records

that are appropriate to be computerised are, within a reasonable time and subject to
availability of resources, computerised and connected through a network all over the
country on different systems so that access to such records is fiicilitated;

(b) publish within one hundred and twenty days from the enactment of Ais
Act,—

(0 the particulars of its organisation, functions and duties;

(ii) the powers and duties of its officers and employees;

(Hi) the procedure followed in the decision making process, including
channels of supervision and accountability;

(/v) the norms set by it Smt the discharge of its flnictions;



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(v) the rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records, held by it or
under its control or used by its employees for discharging its functions;

(vi) a statement of the categories of documents that are held by it or under
its control;

(v//) the particulars of any arrangement that exists for consultation with, or
representation b>^ the members of the public in relation to the formulation of its
policy or implementation thereof;

(viii) a statement of the boards, councils, committees and other bodies
consisting of two or more persons constituted as its part or for the purpose of
its advice, and as to whether meetings of those boards, councils, committees
and other bodies are open to the public, or the minutes of such meetings are
accessible for public;

(cc) a directory of its officers and employees;

(x) the monthly remuneration received by each of its officers and
employees, including the system of compensation as provided in its regulations;

{xi) the budget allocated to each of its agency, indicating the particulars
of all plans, proposed expenditures and reports on disbursements made;

(xii) the manner of execution of subsidy programmes, including the
amounts allocated and the details of beneficiaries of such programmes;

(jc/7{) particulars of recipients of concessions, permits or authorisations
granted by it;

(jc/v) details in respect of the information, available to or held by it,
reduced in an electronic form;

(xv) the particulars of fecilities available to citizens for obtaining information,
including the working hours of a library or reading room, if maintained for public
use;

(xvi) the names, designations and other particulars of tiie Public Information
Officers;

(xvii) such other information as may be prescribed;
and thereafter update these publications every year;

(c) publish all relevant facts while formulatmg important policies or announcing
the decisions which affect public;

(d) provide reasons for its administrative or quasi-judicial decisions to affected
persons.

(2) It shall be a constant endeavour of every public authority to take steps in accordance
with the requirements of clause (b) of sub-section (/) to provide as much information suo
motuXo the public at regular intervals through various means of communications, including
internet, so that the public have minimum resort to the use of this Act to obtain information.

(i) For the purposes of sub-section (7), every information shall be disseminated
widely and in such form and manner which is easily accessible to the public.

{4) All materials shall be disseminated taking into consideration the cost effectiveness,
local language and the most effective method of communication in that local area and the
information should be easily accessible, to the extent possible in electronic format with the
Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be,
available free or at such cost of the medium or Ae print cost price as may be prescribed.

Explanation, — ^For the purposes of sub-sections {3) and (¥), "disseminated" means
making known or communicated the information to the public through notice boards,
newspapers, public announcements, media broadcasts, the internet or any other means,
including inspection of offices of any public authority.



Sec. 1]



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5. (/) Eveiy public authority shall, within one hundred days of the enactment of this
Act, designate as many officers as the Central Public Information Officers or State Public
Information Officers, as the case may be, in all administrative units or offices under it as may
be necessary to provide information to persons requesting for the information under this
Act.

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (/), ev^ pul>lic authority shall
designate an officer, within one hundred days of the enactment of this Act, at each sub-
divisional level or other sub-district level as a Central Assistant Public Information Officer or
a State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, to receive the applications
for information or appeals under this Act for forwarding the same forthwith to die Central
Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or senior officer specified
under sub-section (/) of section 19 or the Central Information Commission or Ae State
Information Commission, as the case may be:

Provided that where an application for information or appeal is given to a Central
Assistant Public Information Officer or a State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the
case may be, a period of five days shall be added in computing the period for response
specified under sub-section (/) of section 7.

(5) Every Central Public Inftemation Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the
case may be, shall deal with requests from persons seeking information and raider reasonable
assistance to the persons seeking such information.

(4) The Central Public Information Officer or State Public Infimnation OfficM^, as the
case may be, may seek the assistance of any other officer as he or she considers it necessary
for the proper discharge of his or her duties.

(5) Any officer, whose assistance has been sought und^ sub-section (4), shall render
all assistance to die Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as
die case may be, seeking his or her assistance and for die purposes of my contravention of
the provisions of this Act, such other officer shall be treated as a Central Public Information
Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be.

6. (i) A person, who desires to obtain any information under this Act, shall make a
request in writing or through electronic means in English or Hnidi or in die official language
of the area in which the^application i^ being made, accompanying such foe as may be
prescribed, to—

(a) the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as
the case may be, of the. concerned public authority;

(b) the Central Assistant Public Information Offiosr or State Assistant Public
Information Officer, as the case may be,

specifying the particulars of the information sought by him or her:

Provided that where such request cannot be made in writing, the Central Public
Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall render all
reasonable assistance to die persfon making the request orally to reduce die same in writing.

(2) An applicant making request for information shall not be required to give any
reason for requesting the information or any other personal details except those that may be
necessary for contacting him.

(i)Whareanapplicationismadetoapublicaudi(Mityrequestingfor an information,—

(0 which is held by another public audiority; or

(ii) the subject matter of which is more closely connected with the functions of
another public authority,

the public authority, to which such application is made, shall transfer the application or such
part of it as may be appropriate to that odier public authority and inform the applicant
immediately about such transfer:



Destgnttion of
Public

Informttion
Officers.



Request for

obtaining

informttion.



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Provided that the transfer of an application pursuant to this sub-section shall be made
as soon as practicable but in no case later than five days from the date of receipt of the
application.

Disposal of 7. (/) Subject to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 5 or the proviso to sub-

request section (i) of section 6, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information

Officer, as the case may be, on receipt of a request under section 6 shall, as expeditiously as
possible, and in any case ^^ithin thirty days of the receipt of the request, either provide the
information on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the
reasons specified in sections 8 and 9:

Provided that where the information sought for concerns the life or liberty of a person,
the same shall be provided within forty-eight hours of the receipt of the request.

(2) If the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the
case may be, fails to give decision on the request for information within the period specified
under sub-section (/), the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information
Officer, as the case may be, shall be deemed to have refused the request.

(5) Where a decision is taken to provide the information on payment of any further fee
representing the cost of providing the information, the Central Public Information Officer or
State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall send an intimation to the person
making the request, giving —

(a) the details of fiirther fees representing the cost of providing the information
as determined by him, together with the calculations made to arrive at the amount in
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