RIGHT TO

INFORMATION
ACT 2005

7
 BACKGROUND
Freedom of Information Act 2002

 The Central Government appointed a working group under H.

D. Shourie and assigned it the task of drafting legislation.
 The Shourie draft, was the basis for the Freedom of
Information Bill, 2000 which eventually became law under
the Freedom of Information Act, 2002.
 This Act was severely criticised for permitting too many
exemptions.
 There was no upper limit on the charges that could be levied.
There were no penalties for not complying with a request for
information. This Act, consequently, never came into
effective force.
Right to Information Act 2005
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 in the
working of every public authority, the
constitution of a Central Information
Commission and State Information
Commissions and for matters connected
therewith or incidental thereto.
RTI ACT 2005: AN OVERVIEW
 The Right to Information Act (RTI) is an Act of the
Parliament of India
 The Act applies to all States and Union Territories
of India except Jammu & Kashmir.
 This law was passed by Parliament on 15 June
2005 and came fully into force on 13 October
2005
 The act covers all public authorities viz.
Government, semi-government and non-
governmental agencies.
 State-level RTI Acts
The state-level RTI Acts were first successfully
enacted by the state governments of Karnataka
(2000), Goa (1997), Rajasthan (2000), Tamil
Nadu (2001), Delhi (2001), Maharashtra
(2002), Assam (2002), Madhya Pradesh
(2003), Jammu and Kashmir (2004), and
Haryana (2005).
 The act is not applicable to central and state
intelligence agencies.
 RTI means right to inspect works, documents
and records, take notes, extract, take sample of
materials, printouts, videos, etc…
 Application for information to be made with
fees to the public information officer (PIO) of
each department. APIO at sub-district level.
 SCOPE

 The Act covers the whole of India except Jammu and

Kashmir, where J&K Right to Information Act is in force.
 It is no to all constitutional authorities, including the
executive, legislature and judiciary; any institution or
body established or constituted by an act of Parliament
or a state legislature.
 Bodies or authorities established or constituted by order
or notification of appropriate government including
bodies "owned, controlled or substantially financed" by
government, or non-Government organizations
"substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds"
provided by the government are also covered in the Act.
 What Rights are Available under RTI Act 2005?

 Ask any question from the government or seek

information.
 Take copies of any Government documents.
 Inspect any government documents.
 Inspect any government works.
 Take sample of materials of any Government work.
 OBJECTIVES OF RTI ACT
 Create a sense of awareness among the common people so that
they will be able to participate in the formation of government
policies and programs.
 Help to form a sensitive bureaucracy for the congenial
management and effective implementation of the government
policies and programs as suitable to the common people.
 The act will be able to tear the traditional culture of official
secrecy of the bureaucracy and will make open for the people.
 Increase the dignity of the country in the international
sphere.
 This act will strengthen the root of the Indian federation.
 Help to strengthen the quality of democracy
 Types of information
The form of documents like records, documents, memos, emails ,
opinions, advise, press release, circulars, orders, logbooks,
contracts, reports, papers, sample s, models, data material held
in any form
 Information not open to disclosure
 Information which would affect the sovergenity , integrity and
security of India
 Information which has been forbidden to be published by a court of
law
 Information which can breach the privilege of parliament or
legislature
 Information relating to trade secret or IPR
 Information received in confidence from a foreign country
Provision of the act
 Major provisions of act stipulate the obligation of
public authority
 Designation of Public Information officer and Assistant
public information officer
 Constitution of central/state information commission
 Power to make the rules to carry out direction of the act
 Non applicability of the act
Main features of RTI Act…
 Define a format for requisitioning information.
 A time period within which information must be provided,
namely 30 days.
 Method of giving information.
 Some charges for applying. The principle is that charges
should be minimum. - more as a token. They are not
representative of the cost, which may be incurred.
 Some exceptions of information, which will not be given.
 Citizens can ask for information by getting Xerox copies of
documents, permissions, policies and decisions.

 Inspection of files can also be done and samples can be

asked for.

 All administrative offices of public authorities have to

appoint Public Information Officer.

 Citizens apply for information to the public information

officer of the concerned office.

 If information is not provided or wrongly refused, the

citizen can go in appeal to an Appellate Authority who
would be an official in the same department, senior to the
PIO. The Appellate authority has to give a decision in 30
days.
 If this too does not give a satisfactory result, one can
appeal to the state or central information
commissioner, which is an independent constitutional
authority, established under the act.
 The act provides for a penalty for delay on the PIO at a
rate of Rs.250 per day of delay.
 Information can be demanded from all public
authorities, i.e. All government bodies and
organizations substantially financed by government
 Process of application
 Act stipulates that all departments have to designate PIO
 If it is a bigger organization there can be APIO
 Any citizen of India may submit a request to PIO for information in
any format, paper or electronic
 If the required information is to be obtained from another pubic
authority, It is PIO’s responsibility to transfer or forward the
concerned portion of the request to a PIO of the other within 5 days
 If the request is to PIO, compliance is expected within 30 days
 If request is made to APIO compliance is expected within 35 days
 Information About human rights violation by security agency
should be given within45 days
 If any of the above case life or liberty is involved PIO has to comply
within 48 hrs
 For central dept a fees of Rs 10 for filling the request,rs2per page of
information,Rs 5per hour for inspection of the record after 1 hr
 EXCLUSION FROM ACT

 .Central intelligence agency,

 Directorate of revenue intelligence
,enforcement directorates,
 Narcotics control bureau ,

 Security forces

 Political bodies

 Private bodies
Private bodies
Private bodies are not within the Act's ambit
directly. In a landmark decision of Sarbajit Roy
versus Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission,
the Central Information Commission also
reaffirmed that privatized public utility
companies continue to be within the RTI Act-
their privatization not withstanding.
 POLITICAL PARTIES

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has

held that the political parties are public authorities
and are answerable to citizens under the RTI Act.
The CIC, a quasi-judicial body, has said that six
national parties:- Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI(M), CPI
and BSP and BJD have been substantially funded
indirectly by the Central Government and they
have the character of public authority under the
RTI Act as they perform public functions On 12
August 2013, the Congress Party tabled RTI
Amendment Bill 2013 in Lok Sabha to keep
political parties out of RTI ambit.
 The Bill to amend the Act so as to keep political
parties out of its ambit, was on September 3,
2013 deferred to the Winter Session of
Parliament. On December 17, 2013 the Standing
Committee on Law and Personnel said in its report
tabled in Parliament
 "The committee considers the proposed
amendment is a right step to address the issue
once and for all. The committee, therefore,
recommends for passing of the Bill,"
 CONCLUSION
 RTI Act has been enacted by India in 2005 after a long civic
battle and social movement.
 The success of this Act depends on co-operation and
awareness of the public, PIOs and information commissioner
and other authorities.
 RTI provides for a time bound and defined process for citizens
to access information about all actions taken by public
authorities.
 The penal provisions on the PIO are the real teeth of the Act,
which ensure that the PIO can’t treat citizen’s demand for
information in a cavalier manner.