How to draft a Right to Information (RTI) Application

Seeking information under RTI Act, 2005 is definitely our right and it can be exercised in a much better way if we are able to draft a better RTI Application. In this very post, we will be talking about this as how we can draft a Right to Information (RTI) application.

Drafting a RTI application is not that difficult and no special legal knowledge is required for the same and you don't need to pay anything for the same to any lawyer. It is because you can draft a simple RTI application on your own and that too within a few minutes.

But, Before you draft a RTI information you need to make sure that you are aware of few certain facts. i.e. what information you are going to seek, does that information actually even exist or not? Public information officer, to whom you will send your RTI application and there are many similar points that must be considered before we draft our RTI application. we will be talking about them in detail.

Public Information Officer: whenever a RTI application is drafted it is always sent to some PIO. Public information officer is that public official who is responsible to receive, decide the RTI application and provide the Information and therefore, we need to identify the Public information officer to whom we will send our RTI application.

However, It is the most difficult task for every newbie in the "RTI world" to identify the Public information officer. There are ample options available for us to identify the public information officer. The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 itself provide specific provisions that casts several duties on public authorities and helps the public at large in the identification of the PIO. 

[Read: RTI - How to identify Public Information Officer (PIO)]

Identification of Public Office: Before we Identify the PIO, It is even more mandatory that we must identify the public office i.e. the office from whom we are going to seek information. According to section 2(h) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 every public office in India is a Public Authority and every citizen can seek information under RTI from such Public office.

Section 2(h) of the act is as follows:

(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; 

Identification of Public office is necessary because if you want to seek some information regarding municipal work being done in your locality and you are seeking that information from the police station. it will obviously make no sense.

Identification of Public office is easy as it can be easily ascertained as to the information which is being sought is at what office. As we all are well aware of the fact that, information regarding the status report on FIR can be obtained from the police station, where it is registered and information related to the municipal work being done in the locality can be obtained from local Municipal committee or corporation.

Brief Facts: while drafting our RTI application we need to make sure that we also mention a few brief facts in the application so that the PIO can easily understand what we are actually seeking. Brief facts may be about the information we are seeking.

for e.g. if we are seeking some information regarding the registration of FIR and investigation being done by the police. In such a case, FIR Number, Date of Registration, Police station where it was registered, under what sections it was registered can be mentioned as brief facts in the said RTI application. This helps the PIO in providing information in a much better way.

Information Sought: It is certain that, If you are going to file a RTI application, you must be aware of what information you are going to seek. we need to expressly mention in detail about the information being sought from the Public information officer. It is obvious that a RTI application must contain the information sought. It must also contain all the details about the information sought that are necessary and helpful for the PIO to provide the information.

Point wise Information: It is always better that we should seek information point wise in our RTI application. It helps in getting the point wise reply from the PIO. Doctrine of Severability can also help to a great extent in the case of point wise information.

Urgent or not: Normally, Information sought is provided by the PIO within 30 days from the receipt of the RTI application but, in some cases, If the information sough is connected to the life and liberty of some person it can be treated as urgent request for information. In such cases, the PIO provides information within 48 hours i.e. 2 days.

If your RTI application is urgent in nature, you need to expressly mention about the same in the RTI application. You may write, This RTI application may kindly be treated as an urgent request for information as the same is connected to the Life and liberty of the Applicant.

Fees to be Paid and How you will pay the same: Yes, you need to pay a nominal amount as fee to get the desired information and the same depends state wise. Fees that is required to be paid along with the RTI application my differ from state to state. However, it is normally Rs. 10/- in several states as application fees. In addition to this, the applicant is required to pay Rs. 2 per page for the information.

You need to mention about the fees paid by you in the application itself. For e.g. If you will pay the fees in cash, you can mention this in your application "I am willing to pay the fees in cash against proper receipt." or if you are willing to pay the fees via postal order. You may mention this in your application "I have attached postal order Number ........... worth Rs. ......... to pay the fees to get the desired information."

Applicant Details: You can not seek information under RTI anonymously. It is obvious, PIO needs your Name, Address and other details so that he is able to send you reply or provide you the information sought at the address provided by you in the application.

Your Signature: Make sure, you must sign your application. Your signatures represents that, It's you who is seeking the required information.

Therefore, your RTI application must mention your name and address and other relevant details that are necessary so that the authorities contact you to proceed further with the RTI application.

I hope this post will help you draft your RTI information in a much better way and get the desired information as soon as possible. only an Informed citizen can help build a strong nation and can make government accountable.