Right to know
Information sought can be addressed to public information officer (PIO) of the department concerned along with the prescribed fees (charges under central RTI Act is Rs 10 per application. The law, however, allows states to chart out their own fee structure as long as it is "reasonable'). In case a person is not literate, the PIO can draft information for the person
List of PIOs is available at www.rti.gov.in. A person can also send the application to the head of the department with a request to forward the same to the PIO
The PIO is required to get back with information within 30 days of application and 48 hours in case it affects the life and liberty of an individual
PIO usually asks the seeker to pay for the photocopy of documents requested or the number of pages printed to give him the information or Rs 50 in case of a CD, etc
If one wants to inspect documents, there is no fee for the first one hour and it is Rs 5 for every subsequent hour thereafter
If there is no response within 30 days or the response is unsatisfactory, the seeker can file an appeal with the first appellate authority who is a senior officer in the same department. This has to be done within 30 days of getting the response
If the seeker is still not satisfied, s/he can appeal to the central information commissioner, the second appellate authority
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