Do you wonder……..

 Why the ration shop in your village/town/area never has any ration?
 Why your local panchayat or municipality does so little and always claims that they have
no funds?
 Why there is not doctor at the primary health canter/hospital and no health worker at the
sub-health center/dispensary?
 Why there are no medicines in the health centers/hospital?
 Where have all the teachers in the government schools gone?
 Why are the streets and colonies in your town/city so dirty?
 Why the roads in your area in such a pathetic condition?
 Why are the people dying of starvation in various parts of the country?
 Why, when so much money is supposedly being spent on our welfare, there are still so
many people who live in abject poverty?

Some of us feel that this country would be a better place to live in if we had a good
politicians and bureaucrats. However, real change can come only when the people of this
country hold the government and public servants accountable, so that they forced to respond
to the poorest citizen of this land. And when that happens, no public servant or government
would dare to be corrupt, inefficient or insensitive.

“In a government of responsibility like ours where the agents of the public must be responsible for
their conduct there can be but a few secrets. The people of this country have a right to every public
act, everything that is done in a public way by their public functionaries. They are entitled to know
the particulars of every public transaction in all its bearings.”

But how do we hold the government accountable?

We cannot even begin to make the government accountable if we do not have the basic
information regarding government decisions and functioning. The Right to Information Act that
was passed by parliament in May 2005 empowers us to do just that.

It gives us the right to question our government and get information about matters that affect us
in thousands of ways. Used innovatively, this information can then be used to hold our
government accountable.

We all pay taxes. Even a beggar on the street pay tax. When he buys anything like a soap or a match, he
pays taxes in the form of sales tax, excise duty etc. this money belong to us.
How does the Right to Information (RTI) Act help us?
RTI Act gives you the right to ask the government for information that can expose inaction and
corruption, and address your grievances.

The government spends so much money on various departmental works in your area. You should ask for
the details of all the works carried out by the panchayat/municipal council in your area. How much
money was spent? On what was it spent? When the information was physically verified, it turned out
that a number of works existed only on paper. Won’t you like to hold government accountable in your
area
Under the RTI Act you can:

 Demand from the government information pertaining to any of its departments.

 Demand photocopies of government contracts, payment, estimates, measurement of
engineering works etc.
 Demand from the government samples of material used in the construction of roads,
drains, buildings etc.
 Demand to inspect any public development work that may be still under construction or
completed.
 Demand to inspect government documents-construction drawings, records books and
registers etc.
 Demand status of your requests or complaints.

Do you have pending work with any department of the Government? Are they not doing your work and
expecting or demanding a bribe? Do you file any grievance petition in a government department but they
are simply not acting on it? Did you make any complaint against any official or against any wrong-doing
and they are not acting on your complaint? You can use the Right to Information Act to know the status of
your application. Sometimes, demanding the status forces them to act.

Salient features of Right to Information Act 2005

 You can seek information from any department of the central or state government,
from panchayat raj institutions and from other organizations and institutions
(including NGOs) that are established, constituted, owned, controlled or
substantially financed, directly or indirectly, by the state or central government
(section 2(a)&(h)).
 In each department, one or more officers have been designated as public
information officers (PIOs). They accept the request forms and provide
information sought by the people (5(1)).
 In addition, in each sub-division level there are assistant public information
officers (APIOs) who receive requests for information and appeals against
 decisions of the public information officers, and then send them to the appropriate
authorities (5(2)).
 Any person seeking information should file an application in the prescribed format
with the information officers/assistant public information officers (5(2)).
 Where a request cannot be made in writing, the PIO shall render all reasonable
assistance to the person making the request orally to reduce the same writing
(6(1)).
 Where the applicant is sensorily challenged, the public authority shall provide
assistance to enable access to the information, including providing such assistance
as may be appropriate for the inspection (7(4)).
 The applicant is not required to either give any reasons for requesting the
information or any personal details, except for those required to contact the
applicant (6(2)).
 A reasonable application fee, as prescribed will be charged for each application and
for supply of information. However, no fee is chargeable from persons below the
poverty line (7(5)), or if the information is provided after the prescribed period
(7(5)).
 Information sought from the PIO has ordinarily to be provided or refused within
30 days. Information regarding the life of liberty of an individual has to be
provided within 48 hours 97(1)). That sought from an APIO in 35 days (5(2)).
 In case a person fails to get a response from the PIO within the prescribed period
or is aggrieved by the response received. He/she file an appeal within 30 days with
an officer superior in rank to the PIO (19(1)).
 In case the appeal is allowed, the information shall be supplied. If it is not, then the
applicant has the right to appeal within 30 days to the Central or State
Information Commission, for information regarding the central or state government
institutions respectively (19(3)).
 If a PIO fails to furnish the information asked for under the Act or fails to
communicate the rejection order, within the time specified, the PIO shall be liable
to pay a penalty of 250 per day for each day of delay, subject to a maximum of Rs
25,000 (20(1)).
 The Information Commission can also require the public authority which has
illegitimately delayed/denied information to compensate the complainant for any
loss or other detriment suffered (19(8)(b)).
 In case a PIO:
a) Without any reasonable cause and persistently, fails to receive an application
for information or does not furnish information within the time specified.
b) Or malafidely denies a request for information,
c) Or knowingly gives incorrect, incomplete or misleading information,
d) Or destroys information which is the subject of a request,
e) Or obstructs, in any manner, the furnishing of information,

The information commission shall recommend disciplinary action against the

concerned public information officer, under the service rules applicable to
him/her (20(2)).