Professional Documents
Culture Documents
NartlJ
fEr / Date :.
No. 1 /3/2008-I R
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel ,
P.G. and Pensions
Qepartment of Personnel & Training
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
6
2. All the Ministries / Departments etc, are requested to bring the contents
of the Guide to the notice of all c o
ncerned.
(K.G.Ver
Director
To Tel: 23092158
I • All Ministries / Department f
of India
s v
2. Union Public Service Commission / Lok Sabha Secretariat /
Rajya Sabha Secretariat / Cabinet Secretariat / Central
Vigilance Commission / President's Secretariat / Vice-
President's Secretariat / Prime Minister's Office / Planning
Commission
Staff Selection Commission, CGO Complex, Lodi Road, New
Delhi.
Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India, 10,
Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg , New Delhi.
Central Information Commission/State Information
Commissions.
specified time to any person seeking information under the RTI Act, 2005.
There are possibilities that a CPIO may not act as per provisions of the Act or
an applicant may not otherwise be satisfied with the decision of the CPIO.. The
Act contains provision of two appeals to tide over such situations. The first
appeal lies within the public authority itself which is made to an officer
CP1O. The second appeal lies with the Central Information Commission. The
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Right to Information under the Act
4. A citizen has a right to seek such information from a public authority
which is held by the public authority or which is held under its control. This
right includes inspection of work, documents and records; taking notes, extracts
or certified copies of documents or records; and taking certified samples of
material held by the public authority or held under the control of the public
authority.
^. Ilie Act Lives the citizens a right to information at par with the Members of
Parliament and the Members of State Legislatures. According to the Act. the
information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature,
Companies etc. which are legal entities/persons, but not citizens. However, if
Association, Company. NGO etc, indicating his name and such employee/office
cases, it would he presumed that a citizen has sought information at the address
2
9. Only such inlormation is required to be supplied under the Act which
already exists and is held by the public authority or held under the control of the
public authority. It is beyond the scope of the Act to create informations or to
interpret information; or to solve the problems raised by the applicants; or to
furnish replies to hypothetical questions.
Information Exem pted F
rom Disclosure
10. Sub-section (1) of section 8 and section 9 of the Act enumerate the
exempted under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 can be disclosed if public interest in
disclosure overweighs the harm to the protected interest. Further, sub-section (3)
exempted alter 20 years lrom the date of occurrence of the related event etc.
I I. It may be noted that section 8(3) of the Act does not require the public
authorities to retain records for indefinite period. The records should be retained
as per the record retention schedule applicable to the concerned public authority.
Information generated in a file may survive in the form of an OM or a letter or in
any other form even after destruction of the file/record. The Act requires
furnishing of information so available after the lapse of 20 years even if such
information was exempt from disclosure under sub-section(1) of Section 8. It
means that the information which, in normal course, is exempt from disclosure
under sub-section(l) of Section 8 of the Act, would cease to he exempted if 20
years have lapsed after occurrence of the incident to which the information relates.
However, the following types of information would continue to he exempt and
there would be no obligation, even after lapse of 20 years, to give any citizen-
(i) information disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the
3
s
incitement of an offence;
(ii) information the disclosure of which would cause a breach of privilege of
Parliament or State Legislature; or
(iii) Cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of
12. The RTI Act has over-riding effect vis-a-vis other laws inasmuch as the
provisions of the RTI Act would have effect notwithstanding anything
inconsistent therewith contained in the Official Secrets Act, 1923. and any other
law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of
copied;
(b) actual charge or cost price of a copy in larger size paper;
(c) actual cost or price for samples or models;
(d) for inspection of records, no fee for the first hour; and a fee of rupees five
(Rs.5/-) for each subsequent hour (or fraction thereof);
4
ls4
(e) for information provided in diskette or floppy rupees fifty (Rs.50/-) per
diskette or floppy; and
(f) for information provided in printed form at the price fixed for such
publication or rupees two per page of photocopy for extracts from the
publication.
14. If the applicant belongs to `below poverty line (BPL)' category, he/she is
not required to pay any fee. However, he/she should submit a proof in support
of his/her claim to belong to the below poverty line. The application not
accompanied by the prescribed fee of Rs.10/- or proof of the applicant's
belonging to below poverty line, as the case may be, shall not be a valid
application under the Act and, therefore, does not entitle the applicant to get
information.
15. It may be noted that where the CPIO decides that the information shall be
provided on payment of fee in addition to the application fee, the CPIO is
required, inter- alia, to inform the applicant:
16. An applicant making request for information is not required to give any
reason for requesting the information or any other personal details except those
that may be necessary for contacting him. Also, the Act or the Rules do not
prescribe any format of application for seeking information. Therefore, the
applicant should not be asked to give justification for seeking information or to
give details of his job etc. or to submit application in any particular form.
Transfer of Application
17. If the subject matter of the application concerns any other public
authority, it should be transferred to that public authority. If only a part of the
application concerns the other public authority, a copy of the application may be
sent to that public authority, clearly specifying the part which relates to that
5
public authority. While transferring the application or sending a copy thereof,
the concerned public authority should be informed that the application fee has
been received. The applicant should also be informed about the transfer of his
application and the particulars of the public authority to whom the application
or a copy thereof has been sent.
18. Transfer of application or part thereof, as the case may be, should be
made as soon as possible and in any case within five days from the date of
receipt of the application. If a CPIO transfers an application after five days from
the receipt of the application, he would be responsible for delay in disposing of
the application to the extent of number of days which he takes in transferring
6
156
23. The CPIO should supply the information within thirty days of the receipt
of the request. Where the information sought for concerns the life or liberty of a
person, the same should be provided within forty-eight hours of the receipt of
the request.
7
25. In case of an application transferred from one public authority to another
public authority reply should be provided by the concerned public authority
within 30 days of the receipt of the application by that public authority in
normal course and within 48 hours in case the information sought concerns the
life or liberty of a person.
26. The Central Public Information Officers of the intelligence and security
organisations specified in the Second Schedule of the Act may receive
8
tS S
authority.
(b) In case the information concerns the life (b) Within 48 hours of
or liberty of a person.
receipt of the application
by the concerned public
authority.
Supply of information by organizations
specified in the Second Schedule:
(a) If information relates to allegations of (a) 45 days from the receipt
violation of human rights. of application.
(b) In case information relates to allegations (b) Within 30 days of the
of corruption. receipt of application.
Supply of information if it relates to third
Should be provided after
party and the third party has treated it as following the procedure
confidential.
given in para 32 to 36 of
these g uidelin es.
Supply of information where the applicant
is The period intervening
asked to p ay additi ona l fee.
between informing the
applicant about additional
fee and the payment of fee
by the applicant shall be
excluded for calculating the
period of reply.
28. If the CPIO fails to give decision on the request for information within
the prescribed period, the Central Public Information Officer shall be deemed to
have refused the request. It is pertinent to note that if a public authority fails to
comply with the specified time limit, the information to the concerned applicant
would have to be provided free of charge.
First Appeal
9
time, he can make an appeal to the First Appellate Authority. Appeal can also
be made if the applicant is aggrieved by the decision of the CPIO regarding
supply of information or the quantum of fee decided by the CPIO.
Appeal in relation to Third Party Information
30. Third party in relation to the Act means a person other than the citizen
who has made request for information. Any public authority other than the
public authority to whom the request has been made shall also be included in
information.
32. If an applicant seeks any information which relates to or has been supplied
by a third party and that third party has treated that information as confidential, the
Central Public Information Officer should consider whether the information should
be disclosed or not. The guiding principle in such cases should be that except in
the case of trade or commercial secrets protected by law, disclosure may be
allowed if the public interest in disclosure outweighs in importance any possible
harm or injury to the interests of such third party. However, procedure as given
below should be followed before disclosing such information. It may be noted that
this procedure need be followed only when the third party has treated the
information as confidential.
33. If the CPIO intends to disclose the information, he should within five
days from the receipt of the application, give a written notice to the third party
that the information has been sought by the applicant under the RTI Act and that
he intends to disclose the information. He should request the third party to
make a submission in writing or orally, regarding whether the information
10
should be disclosed. The third party should be given a time of ten days, from
the date of receipt of the notice by him, to make representation against the
proposed disclosure, if any.
34. The Central Public Information Officer should make a decision regarding
disclosure of the information keeping in view the submission of the third party.
Such a decision should be taken within forty days from the receipt of the request
for information. After taking the decision, the CPIO should give a notice of his
decision to the third party in writing. The notice given to the third party should
include a statement that the third party is entitled to prefer an appeal under
section 19 against the decision.
35. The third party can prefer an appeal to the First Appellate Authority
against the decision made by the Central Public Information Officer within
thirty days from the date of the receipt of notice. If not satisfied with the
decision of the First Appellate Authority, the third party can prefer the second
appeal to the Central Information Commission.
36. If an appeal has been filed by the third party against the decision of the
CPIO to disclose the third party information, the information should not be
disclosed till the appeal is decided.
Time Limit for Filine of First Appeal
37. The first appeal may be made within 30 days from the date of expiry of
the prescribed period or from the receipt of communication from the CPIO. If
the First Appellate Authority is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by
sufficient cause from filing the appeal, the appeal maybe admitted after 30 days
also.
Disposal of Appeal
38. Deciding appeals under the RTI Act is a quasi-judicial function. It is,
therefore, necessary that the appellate authority should see to it that the justice is
not only done but it should also appear to have been done. In order to do so, the
II
order passed by the appellate authority should be a speaking order giving
justification for the decision arrived at.
Time Limit for Disposal of Appeal
39. The appeal should be disposed off within 30 days of receipt of the
appeal. In exception cases, the Appellate Authority may take 45 days for its
disposal. However, in cases where disposal of appeal takes more than 30 days,
the Appellate Authority should record in writing the reasons for such delay.
12
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