Filing an RTI to get information from a government office
Any citizen can ask almost any public office for its records, files and reasons — and the law forces a reply within 30 days. Here's how to write and file one.
Your right
You have a legal right to ask any public authority for its information and to be answered within a fixed time, under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
An RTI request is the single most useful tool an ordinary citizen has. It lets you ask a government department why your application is stuck, what a sanctioned road project actually cost, how many posts lie vacant, or for a copy of a file noting — and the officer is bound by law to answer. You don't need a lawyer, a reason, or any special standing. You only need to ask the right office, in writing, and pay a small fee.
Step by step
- 1
Work out which office holds the information
Your request goes to the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the department that actually holds the records — the Panchayat, the Highways division, the Municipality, the Collectorate, and so on. Every public authority is required to designate a PIO; if you're unsure, you can route it through an Assistant Public Information Officer (APIO), who must forward it.
- 2
Write the request in plain language
Address it to "The Public Information Officer", name the department, and list your questions clearly and numbered. Ask for specific records — "a copy of the file", "the inspection report dated…", "the amount sanctioned and spent". You do not have to explain why you want it; the law forbids the officer from asking your reason.
- 3
Pay the application fee
The standard fee is ₹10, paid by cash, court-fee stamp, demand draft, or postal order, or online on the state portal. Citizens below the poverty line (BPL) pay nothing — attach a copy of your BPL card and you are fully exempt, including for the copying charges.
- 4
File it — by post, in person, or online
Hand it over and get an acknowledgement, or send it by registered post and keep the receipt. Tamil Nadu also runs an online RTI portal where you can file and pay in one go. Keep proof of the date you filed — every deadline counts from it.
- 5
Wait for the reply within the legal clock
The PIO must respond within 30 days. If the matter concerns the life or liberty of a person, the limit drops to 48 hours. If you filed through an APIO, the office gets an extra 5 days (35 in total). A reply that demands further copying charges pauses the clock until you pay.
If you get no response
If you get no reply, or an unsatisfactory one
File a First Appeal — for free — to the First Appellate Authority, an officer senior to the PIO in the same department, within 30 days of when the answer was due. State plainly that the information was refused, incomplete, or never came.
If the first appeal also fails
Go to the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission with a Second Appeal, within 90 days. The Commission is an independent body that can order the information released and impose a penalty on the officer who withheld it — up to ₹250 a day, capped at ₹25,000.
If the official deliberately stonewalls
Some officers ignore RTI requests in the hope you'll give up. Don't. The Commission can penalise the Public Information Officer personally — ₹250 for every day of delay, up to ₹25,000, recovered from the officer's own pocket — and recommend disciplinary action against them. Separate from your appeal for the information (filed under section 19), you can lodge a complaint under section 18 with the Commission about the misconduct itself: no PIO appointed, your application refused, or information knowingly denied. Spell out the dates and the deliberate delay so the Commission can act on the penalty.
If even the Commission's order is ignored
The RTI Act gives no further appeal beyond the Information Commission. When an officer flouts even the Commission's direction, the remedy is to move the High Court — for the Nilgiris, the Madras High Court — with a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution to enforce the order. This is a court step, so see the guide on free legal aid: if you can't afford a lawyer, the state must provide one at no cost, so the courtroom door isn't shut on grounds of money.
Legal basis
What you'll need
- Your questions written out clearly, ideally numbered
- The ₹10 fee (cash, stamp, DD, postal order, or online payment)
- A copy of your BPL card if you are claiming the fee waiver
- Your name and a postal address for the reply (you need not give a reason)
At a glance
- Ordinary reply
- Within 30 days
- Life & liberty matters
- Within 48 hours
- Filed via APIO
- Within 35 days
- First appeal
- File within 30 days of the deadline
- Second appeal
- File within 90 days
- What it costs
- ₹10 application fee (free for BPL cardholders). Photocopies are charged at a small per-page rate; the first appeal and second appeal cost nothing.
- Where to go
- The Public Information Officer of the relevant department, or the Tamil Nadu RTI portal for online filing.
Official links