Right to Information: What You Can Ask, and What You Cannot

The Right to Information Act, 2005 gives every Indian citizen the legal right to request information from any public authority, and requires that authority to respond within a fixed timeframe. It's one of the more genuinely powerful tools available to an ordinary citizen, and one of the most underused.

What You Can Ask For

You can request copies of documents, records, file notings, and data held by government departments, public sector bodies, and any body substantially funded by the government. This covers an enormous range: why a road project is delayed, the status of your own pending application, how public funds were spent on a local project, and much more.

The Timeline the Law Requires

A Public Information Officer (PIO) is legally required to respond within 30 days. If the request concerns your life or personal liberty, the response window shrinks to 48 hours.

What It Costs

The standard application fee is ₹10. Applicants below the poverty line are exempt from this fee entirely.

What's Exempt

RTI has real limits. Information that would harm national security, strategic or economic interests of the state, ongoing investigations, or genuinely personal information with no public interest justification can be lawfully withheld. It's not an unlimited tool, but its exemptions are narrower than most people assume, vague answers like "this is confidential" without a specific legal basis are often challengeable.

If You Don't Get a Response

If 30 days pass with no response, or you're unsatisfied with the answer, you can file a First Appeal with the same department, and after that, a Second Appeal to the State or Central Information Commission. This is exactly why keeping your RTI registration number matters, it's what makes escalation possible.

For the practical steps of actually filing one online, see our Direct Civic Connect page.