Indian Kanoon - Procedure for filing an RTI application - LawRato

http://lawrato.com is an interactive online platform that makes it faster and easier to find and hire the best Lawyers in any city / court in India. The Right to Information Act was established to make the government accountable for its work by empowering citizens to demand information regarding its activities. This act applies to both the Central and the State Governments of India except Jammu and Kashmir, which has its own RTI Act. The RTI aims to allow citizens to ask for records, documents, circulars, contracts, reports, papers, emails, memos and all other information held in print or electronic form from the public authorities, i.e. all the governing bodies. The RTI Act 2005 also empowers citizens to physically inspect the records that have been duly maintained by the government and its administrative bodies. If a person residing in Bengaluru has queries about the water supply in your area, so one can approach the municipal body in charge of supplying water to one's area (in this case, the Bangalore water supply and Sewerage Board), either at their office or through their website Almost all the departments and bodies controlled or funded by the Central Government (even at the state level) are covered under the Act, departments funded by the State Governments are accessible only in those States which have State RTIs. Also Departments dealing with defence and national security, however, do not fall under the purview of RTI. This includes bodies like National Security Guard, the Intelligence Bureau, and Border Security Force, etc. The state of Jammu and Kashmir is also exempt from the RTI Act. There is no particular format for filing an RTI Application and any citizen of India can seek information under the same. The procedure for filing an RTI is pretty simple: I) Determine which department your query concerns and who is the Public Information Officer there II) Write a simple, to the point application form detailing your questions clearly III) Pay the fee of Rs. 10. The payment can be made via DD or Indian Postal Order can be submitted to the treasury. Proof of payments must be enclosed with the application IV) Submit the application via post, online or In-person So a mechanism has been put into place to ensure transparent working of all the government bodies whereby which they are answerable to the general public and anyone can raise their queries and demand answers for the same. Also for the reason that queries should be resolved as quickly as possible, a time limit has been put in place whereby which an RTI must be replied to within 30 days. Infact in life and death cases, RTI's must be responded to within 48 hours Advocate Anuj Aggarwal can be consulted for further information at https://goo.gl/DGkpVH or by calling at +91-9599000555.