The Brave Pedestrian

Maharashtra Government‘s RTI Rules are almost identical with Central Government’s RTI rules, with only tiny differences. The rules are: Form of application. RTI application should generally be filed in format given as Annexture A of the Rules. Word limit and subject: Each RTI application should only be about one subject, and the queries or requests under the heading ‘Description of Information‘, should not exceed 150 words. You can file additional RTI applications on same subject, if your queries exceed 150 words, or you want information on more than one subject. For Central government, the word limit is 500 words. Application fee. Application fee of Rs.10/- are to be paid by affixing Court Fee Stamp or Indian Postal Order (IPO) or bank’s demand draft or banker’s cheque in favour of public authority from whom information is sought, or in cash at the concerned office against receipt. Copying charges. Information in A-3 o...

In case the requested documents are denied to you under sections 8, 9 or 11, and the PIO and appellate authorities refuse to budge, what to do? The answer is: Take whatever documents you can get, after severing off the documents (or parts thereof) to which the above-mentioned sections apply. Section 10: (1) Where a request for access to information is rejected on the ground that it is exempt from disclosure, access may be provided to that part of the record which does not contain any information which is exempt from disclosure and which can reasonably be severed from any part that contains exempt information . (2) Where access is granted to a part of the record under sub-section (1) the PIO shall give a notice to the applicant, informing — that only part of the record requested, after severance of the record containing information which is exempt from disclosure, is being provided; the reasons for the decision, including any findings on any material question ...

 From which organizations can you demand RTI info? A wide variety of offices of government and administration, PSUs, and some privately owned and run bodies also, are covered under the RTI Act 2005. You have the right to demand information from any body that is covered under the definition of “public authority” under RTI Act. Your RTI application has to be addressed to “The Public Information Officer, [Name of Public Authority, Postal Address of Postal Authority.]” For example, if you want some information from Kasturba Marg police station, your RTI application should say, “To the Public Information Officer, Kasturba Cross Road Number 1, Chinchpada, Borivali East, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400066.” The beauty of RTI Act is that you don’t even have to know the name of the Public Information Officer, or the name of the office about which you need information. You only need commonsense and the information that is easily available on the internet. For example, you can file RTI app...