RTI Application Format | Sections 6, 7 & 19, RTI Act

In legal terms, an RTI application is a request under Section 6(1) of the Act, made in writing or through electronic means, in English, Hindi or the official language of the area. It goes to the Central or State Public Information Officer of the authority holding the record, or to an Assistant PIO at sub-divisional level under Section 5(2). Where a person cannot write, the proviso to Section 6(1) obliges the PIO to help reduce an oral request to writing. Neither the Act nor the Central rules impose a mandatory form: a signed letter on plain paper is valid if it identifies the applicant, the authority and the information sought. Section 2(f) defines information broadly, from memos and emails to contracts and electronic data.

Unlike a CPGRAMS grievance, a Section 80 CPC notice or a demand letter, an RTI application seeks no action and no money. It asks for existing records, and the PIO has no duty to create information, collate it into a new shape or offer an opinion, as the Supreme Court held in CBSE v. Aditya Bandopadhyay (2011) 8 SCC 497. Reasons are a different matter: Section 4(1)(d) requires authorities to give affected persons the reasons for their decisions, so a request for the notings that record those reasons is legitimate. When your goal is redress rather than disclosure, one of our legal notices and demand letters for India will do more work.

The Right to Information Act, 2005 came fully into force on 12 October 2005. Section 3 grants the right to every citizen, and Section 4 obliges each authority to publish its functions and budgets proactively. An applicant need not give reasons or personal details beyond contact information (Section 6(2)), and a PIO who receives an RTI application meant for another authority must transfer it within five days under Section 6(3). The reply is due within 30 days of receipt, or within 48 hours where the information concerns the life or liberty of a person. If the PIO misses the deadline, Section 7(6) requires the information to be supplied free of charge.

Fees for Central authorities are set by the Right to Information Rules, 2012: ten rupees per application, two rupees per A4 page, and inspection free for the first hour, then five rupees for each further fifteen minutes. Applicants below the poverty line pay nothing under Section 7(5). Each State frames its own rules under Section 27, while High Courts and legislatures act as competent authorities under Section 28. The Department of Personnel and Training hosts the bare Act, the 2012 Rules and CPIO contact lists on its official portal for the Right to Information Act and Rules.

The personal information exemption has changed. Section 44(3) of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, in force since 13 November 2025, rewrote Section 8(1)(j) so that information relating to personal information is exempt, deleting the earlier public interest proviso. The Supreme Court has referred the challenge to a larger bench without staying it. On remedies, Section 19 provides a first appeal within 30 days and a second appeal within 90 days to the Information Commission, while Section 20 lets the Commission fine a defaulting PIO two hundred and fifty rupees per day, up to twenty-five thousand rupees.

The most common trigger is a file that has stopped moving. For a stuck passport, an unrevised pension or a withheld tax refund, an RTI application seeking the file notings and the dates on which the file moved between desks gets it moving faster than a dozen reminders. The second large family is examinations and recruitment, where candidates seek evaluated answer sheets, cut-offs and selection committee minutes, a right the Supreme Court confirmed in Aditya Bandopadhyay.

Property comes third. Buyers ask municipal bodies and development authorities for sanctioned building plans, occupancy certificates and mutation entries before they sign a sale deed under Section 54 of the Transfer of Property Act, because a missing approval costs far less to discover at that stage. Employees of public sector undertakings use RTI to obtain their own service books, APARs and disciplinary files, often before contesting a termination letter issued under the Industrial Relations Code.

Private companies are outside the Act, but Section 2(f) reaches information about a private body that a regulator can access under another law, so a request to the RBI, SEBI or a pollution control board can succeed where a direct approach cannot. Intelligence and security organisations are excluded by Section 24, save for corruption and human rights allegations. And when a person is in custody or needs urgent treatment in a government hospital, the 48-hour life or liberty proviso turns an ordinary request into an emergency one.

• The addressee block names the PIO by designation rather than by personal name, with the full postal address of the public authority. For sub-divisional offices, it can route the request through the Assistant PIO, adding the five days allowed by Section 5(2).
• The statutory heading cites Section 6(1) and records that the applicant is a citizen of India, the only eligibility condition under Section 3. It states no purpose, since Section 6(2) forbids the PIO from asking for one.
• The particulars of information sought are drafted as separate items based on records, each tied to a file number, date range or document type. "Why" questions become requests for the notings that record the reasons.
• The mode of supply clause asks for certified photocopies, inspection of files or electronic copies. Section 7(9) requires information to be given in the form requested unless that would disproportionately divert resources or harm the record.
• The fee declaration states the payment mode (Indian Postal Order, demand draft, banker's cheque, court fee stamp where the State accepts it, or online payment) with the instrument number. Applicants below the poverty line attach their certificate under Section 7(5) instead.
• An optional life or liberty clause invokes the 48-hour proviso to Section 7(1). An unsupported claim of urgency is routinely ignored, so it carries a short verifiable statement of facts.
• The transfer and appeal clause asks the PIO to transfer the request under Section 6(3) if another authority holds the records. It also asks for the name and address of the First Appellate Authority, as Section 7(8) requires in any rejection.
• The signature block carries the date, place, postal address, email and telephone number. Fee intimations under Section 7(3) depend on it.

Central Government. Requests to ministries, central PSUs and bodies such as EPFO or CBDT follow the Right to Information Rules, 2012. Rule 3 caps the text of an RTI application at 500 words excluding annexures and addresses, although its proviso bars rejection on that ground alone. Cash against receipt, demand draft, banker's cheque, Indian Postal Order and electronic payment are accepted, but court fee stamps are not. Second appeals go to the Central Information Commission in New Delhi.

Maharashtra. The rules in force are the Maharashtra Right to Information Rules, 2026 notified on 7 July 2026, which superseded a set of the same name notified on 12 June. The June text, which raised the fee to thirty rupees and demanded photo identity, was held in abeyance after public protest and then replaced. The July rules keep the application fee at ten rupees, charge two rupees per A4 or A3 page and set twenty rupees for each appeal, with no identity or citizenship attachment. Guides quoting a thirty-rupee fee describe the superseded June text. Our template keeps Maharashtra requests to one subject within 150 words, the ceiling the State introduced in 2012 and still the prudent standard for its PIOs.

Karnataka. Karnataka amended its rules in 2008 to require that each application relate to one subject matter and stay within 150 words. Multi-subject requests are regularly returned, so split them. The application fee is ten rupees, and court fee stamps are accepted alongside postal orders and demand drafts. Applicants may write in Kannada or English. Second appeals lie to the Karnataka Information Commission in Bengaluru.

Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu Right to Information (Fees) Rules, 2005 fix the application fee at ten rupees and accept payment in cash, by demand draft, banker's cheque, court fee stamp or treasury challan. Copies cost two rupees per page. Requests may be drafted in Tamil or English. The Tamil Nadu State Information Commission in Chennai hears second appeals.

Uttar Pradesh. The Uttar Pradesh Right to Information Rules, 2015, amended in 2019, apply a 500-word limit, and the state portal warns that longer applications may be rejected, which is stricter than the Central proviso. That portal handles state departments only. Requests to the Allahabad High Court and subordinate courts follow the Allahabad High Court (RTI) Rules, 2006, framed under Section 28. A court fee stamp of ten rupees is an accepted postal mode.

You start by telling the form whether the records sit with a Central or a state authority, and in which State. The template adjusts fee, payment modes, word limit and appellate authority accordingly. Next comes the public authority and its PIO; the Section 4(1)(b) disclosures on the authority's website list the PIO and First Appellate Authority by designation. You then enter your questions; the form prompts you to anchor each item in a file number, date range or document name, and warns you when a question asks for an opinion rather than a record.

After that, you choose how you want the information delivered, indicate the payment mode and, where relevant, attach a BPL certificate or select the life or liberty option. The finished RTI application downloads in Word and PDF. You sign it, attach the fee and send it by Speed Post or registered post with acknowledgement due, or file it on the relevant portal. Keep the postal receipt or the online registration number: the reply deadline runs from receipt by the PIO, and the first appeal deadline runs from its expiry.

The error we see most often is asking questions instead of requesting records. "Why was my application rejected?" invites a refusal; "certified copies of the notings and order rejecting application no. 123" does not. The second is the omnibus RTI application, twenty unrelated questions spanning a decade. Section 7(9) only lets the PIO change the form of supply, not refuse, yet sprawling requests draw delay and partial replies citing the Supreme Court's warning against indiscriminate demands. Wrong payment is the third trap. A court fee stamp sent to a central ministry or a postal order drawn in favour of the wrong officer gets the application returned, and in practice the 30-day clock only runs once a request carrying a valid fee reaches the PIO.

The fourth mistake is procedural. Many applicants skip the first appeal and write straight to the Information Commission, which returns the file because the Section 19(1) remedy was not exhausted. Others confuse a complaint under Section 18 with an appeal under Section 19: in Chief Information Commissioner v. State of Manipur (2011) 15 SCC 1, the Supreme Court held that the Commission cannot order disclosure while hearing a complaint, so the appeal is the right route when you want the documents. Finally, RTI cannot win you compensation from a public utility; a consumer complaint notice under the Consumer Protection Act 2019 can, and the RTI reply then becomes its evidence.