RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005 (India)

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CHAPTER II

Right to information and obligations of public authorities

3 Subject to the provisions of this Act, all citizens shall have the right to information.4(1) Every public authority shall— (a)maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and the form 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 facilitated; (b)publish within one hundred and twenty days from the enactment of this Act,—

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the particulars of its organisation, functions and duties; (ii) the powers and duties of its officers and employees;
(iii)the procedure followed in the decision making process, including channels of supervision and accountability; (iv)the norms set by it for the discharge of its functions; (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;
(vii)the particulars of any arrangement that exists for consultation with, or representation by, 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; (ix)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; (xiii)particulars of recipients of concessions, permits or authorisations granted by it; (xiv)details in respect of the information, available to or held by it, reduced in an electronic form; (xv) the particulars of facilities 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 the Public Information Officers; (xvii)such other information as may be prescribed and thereafter update these publications every year; (c) publish all relevant facts while formulating 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 (1) to provide as much information suo motu to 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. (3) For the purposes of sub-section (1), 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 the print cost price as may be prescribed. Explanation.—For the purposes of sub-sections (3) and (4), "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.5 (1) Every 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 (1), every public 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 the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or senior officer specified under sub-section (1) of section 19 or the Central Information Commission or the 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 (1) of section 7.
(3) Every Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall deal with requests from persons seeking information and render reasonable assistance to the persons seeking such information.
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The Act primarily envisages setting out a 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.

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“Right to Information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to: -
(i) Inspection of work, documents, records.
(ii) Taking notes, extracts, or certified copies of documents or records.
(iii) Taking certified samples of material.
(iv) Obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is shared in a computer or in any other device.

Subject to the provisions of the Act, all citizens have right to information.

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“Information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mail, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, log books, contacts, 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 law for the time being in force.

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Any person, who desires to obtain any information, shall make a request in writing or through electronic means in English or Hindi or in the official language of the area in which the application is being made to the Central Public Information Officer (or the Assistant PIO) of the public authority concerned. The request should specify the particulars of the information sought by the applicant and should be accompanied by the requisite fee (IPO Rs 10).

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When an applicant cannot make a request in writing, the Public Information Officer shall render all reasonable assistance to the applicant making the request orally to reduce same in writing.

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The applicant need not to give any reason for requisitioning the information or any other personal details except those that may be necessary for contacting him.