RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005 (India)

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THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005
No. 22 of 2005
[15th June, 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.

Whereas the Constitution of India has established democratic Republic;
And whereas democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed;
And whereas revelation of information in actual practice is likely to conflict with other public interests including efficient operations of the Governments, optimum use of limited fiscal resources and the preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information;
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:—

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CHAPTER I

Preliminary

1(1) This Act may be called the Right to Information Act, 2005. (2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir. (3) The provisions of sub-section (1) of section 4, sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 5, sections 12, 13, 15,16, 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.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 funds provided directly or indirectly— (i) by the Central Government or the Union territory administration, the Central Government; (ii)by the State Government, the State Government; (b) "Central Information Commission" means the Central Information Commission constituted under sub-section (1) of section 12; (c) "Central Public Information Officer" means the Central Public Information Officer designated under sub-section (1) 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— (i)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; (ii)the Chief Justice of India in the case of the Supreme Court; (iii)the Chief Justice of the High Court in the case of a High Court; (iv)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; (f) "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; (c)by any other law made by State Legislature; (d)by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any—
(i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government;
(i) "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 (d)any other material produced by a computer or any other device; (j) "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 stored in a computer or in any other device; (k) "State Information Commission" means the State Information Commission constituted under sub-section (1) of section 15; (l) "State Chief Information Commissioner" and "State Information Commissioner" mean the State Chief Information Commissioner and the State Information Commissioner appointed under sub-section (3) of section 15; (m) "State Public Information Officer" means the State Public Information Officer designated under sub-section (1) and includes a State Assistant Public Information Officer designated as such under sub-section (2) of section 5; (n) "third party" means a person other than the citizen making a request for information and includes a public authority.

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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,—

(i)

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.

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Where a request is made to a public authority for an information: - (i) Which is held by another public authority; or

(ii) Which is subject matter of or is more closely connected with the functions of another public authority, then the public authority which received the request, shall transfer the request (or an appropriate part there of) to such other public authority, as fast as practicable but not later than 5 days from the receipt of the application. The applicant shall be informed about such transfer.