Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

i.For not accepting the application and not providing the information within the time limit, without reasonable cause.

ii.For malafidely denying the information.

iii.For knowingly giving incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information

iv.For destroying the information

v.For obstructing in any manner in furnishing of solicited information.

i.It will be deemed that the request was rejected.

ii.Later the information shall be given free of cost; if directed by First Appeal Authority (FAA) / Secondary Appeal Authority (SAA)

iii.Will attract provisions of Section 20.

The information sought for, in an application under the RTI Act can be denied only for any of the reasons given under section 8(1) or 9 of the RTI Act. The information cannot be denied under the provisions of other laws.

i.For Kerala State Govt. departments

      .       Court fee stamp

      a.By remittance in treasury

      b.By cash remittance in the office of the public authority

      c.By DD/bankers cheque

ii.For Central Govt. Offices state and Central PSUs and other public Authorities

       .By cash remittance in the office of the public authority

     a.By DD/Bankers Cheque

i.For not accepting the application and not providing the information within the time limit, without reasonable cause.

ii.For malafide denial of information.

iii.For knowingly giving incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information

iv.For destroying the information

v.For obstructing in any manner,furnishing of information.

The APIO has only two responsibilities under the RTI Act- Receive applications for information from citizens and forward them to the concerned PIO immediately or within five days.An APIO is liable for penalty if he/she refuses to receive applications or appeals. He/she is also liable for a penalty if he/she does not forward the same to the appropriate authority within the 5-day deadline.

In this case the PIO can reject the request stating that it has been legally destroyed. However the PA should maintain disposal register with date and details of files disposed. S/he is not expected to create information.

Personal information does not mean information related to the information seeker, but about a third party. Hence the Section states about 'unwarranted invasion of the privacy of an individual'. It is seen that majority of appeals revolve around the exemption on personal information. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Government of India based on the Supreme Court judgement dated 3rd October 2012 (Girish Ramachandra Deshpande Vs CIC and others) held as follows:

Personal information does not mean information related to the information seeker, but about a third party.  Hence the Section states about ‘unwarranted invasion of the privacy of an individual’.  It is seen that majority of appeals revolve around the exemption on personal information.  The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Government of India based on the Supreme Court judgement dated 3^rd October 2012 (Girish Ramachandra Deshpande Vs CIC and others) held as follows:

“The performance of an employee is primarily a matter between the employee and the employer and normally those aspects are governed by the service rules which fall under the expression personal information, the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or public interest, on the other hand, the disclosure of which would cause unwarranted invasion of privacy of that individual”.

In law, fiduciary denotes trust, especially with regard to the relationship between a trustee and a beneficiary. An example is the relationship between banker and depositor. Here the fiduciary has the duty to act in the best interest of other party (beneficiary).

It means the opinion noted in the note file by some officer at some point of time. The PIO is not expected to give his/her opinion on a request but just to furnish the matter requested as in the file.

As per Section 22, RTI Act has an overriding effect over any law for the time being in force. Hence such information even if the Department manuals prevent the disclosure has to be disclosed if requested under RTI

Any material in, any tangible form, is deemed an information vide RTI Act Sec 2(f). e.g., Files including file noting, registers, records, equipment, vehicles, buildings etc., Information related to a private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law is also information under the RTI Act.

The right to information is the right of a citizen for getting information which is held by, or under the control of the public authority. The Act does not provide for generating new information and collecting information by taking administrative action. e.g., Issue of new certificates, taking action on complaints or other application for administrative action does not come under the purview of the Act.

As per Sec 10 of the Act, whenever a request for access to information is rejected as it is exempted from disclosure, part of the record that does not contain any exempted information, can reasonably be severed from such part that contains the exempted information and provided.

Here the PIO shall within 5 days from the receipt of the request, give a written notice to the 3rd party of the request and the PIO's intention to disclose the information or record. The 3rd party may make a submission regarding whether the information should be disclosed or not. The submission shall be kept in view while taking a decision before disclosing by the PIO.

PIO has to give reasons of rejection and not merely quote the bare clause of the Act.  The PIO is expected to intimate clearly as to how s/he came to the conclusion that rule 8(1) was applicable in the particular case, through a speaking order.  The applicant, is entitled to receive clear-cut replies for all his/her queries.  S/he has to give his/her name, and also the time limit within which appeal can be preferred and also the name, address of Appellate officer in his/her communication.

Sometimes information may fall under exemption under Sec 8, but still PIO can disclose ‘if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interests’.  In such cases the PIO may record the following:

•   factors favoring public interest in disclosure

• factors favoring non-disclosure

• Documents produced by requester as evidence to prove public interest.

• How and why the factors favoring the above are more important as to take a decision to disclose or not.

As per the provisions of Sec 19(6), 1st appeal shall be disposed within 30 days or within such extended period not exceeding 45 days, from the date of receipt. While disposing the 1st appeal, the first Appellate Authority may give notice to the PIO / deemed PIO and to the appellant, conduct a hearing (if required), pass speaking orders and communicate to the PIO under intimation to the applicant.

The Government will have to issue detailed guidelines as regards the procedure to be followed for collecting samples. Witnesses may be required to be present for the purpose of certifying the samples collected.

Section 10(2)(b) of the RTI Act makes it clear that the PIO is not always the deciding authority for granting partial access to records that may contain exempt information. The PIO is required to give the name and designation of the person giving the decision of partial access while intimating the same to the applicant. With the exception of cases where information requested belongs to the category of personal information where the PIO has the authority to decide whether the disclosure is in the public interest [Section 8(1)(j)], it is the public authority or the competent authority which has the power to grant full access or partial access in the public interest. The Government should specify in the rules the level at which the decision to grant complete or partial access to exempt records must be taken within the public authority. Care must be taken to ensure that decisions in such cases must be taken within the time limit stipulated in the law as there is no grace period provided for this process.

i.State PIO for the PIOs in all public authorities under the control of the state Govt.

ii.Central PIO for the PIOs in all public authorities under the control of the central Govt.

The PIO shall be given a reasonable opportunity of being heard before any penalty is imposed on him/her. The burden of proving that s/he acted reasonably and diligently shall be on the PIO.

There is no penalty for not meeting this deadline. But it is advisable to publish as much information as possible within the deadline and give it wide media publicity so that people know that Government is earnest about implementing the law. It must be noted that the Information Commission has the power [Sec.19(8)(a)(vi)] to receive from a public authority an annual compliance report in relation to Sec.4. This reporting mechanism will technically make the public authority answerable to the Information Commission on all acts of commission and omission in relation to proactive disclosure.

Section 11 can be invoked only if the information relates to or has been supplied by a third party and has been treated as confidential by the 3rd party.

The 2019 amendment bill amended Section 13 and Section 16 of the Act, 2005, regarding term of office and conditions of service of Information Commissioners.

The application shall be submitted before the PIO/APIO of the concerned public authority.

No fee other than the prescribed fee and cost of information shall be demand from the applicant.

BPL applicants are exempted from payment of application fee and the fee prescribed by rules under the RTI Act only. Postal charges have to be met by the PAs. Moreover, as specific to Kerala State, cost of information or photocopying charges upto 20 pages is exempted. BPL applicants will have to pay if the number of photocopied pages exceed 20, at the same rate as prescribed by Rules.

The Supreme Court in Thalappalam Service Co-operative Bank Vs State of Kerala in 2013 held that Co-operative Society is not a Public Authority as the society, is not controlled by the appropriate Government or is substantially financed by the Government. However when a citizen seeks for information from the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, who is a Public Authority under Sec 2(h), such Registrar in turn can direct the Co-operative Society to furnish the information and the Co-operative Society would be bound to supply the information to the requestor.

When tenders are invited by the PA, and the eligibility of a tender or bidder is decided on the basis of tender documents. Therefore these tender documents cannot be kept secret on the ground that this has trade secrets or would lead to disclosure of commercial confidence. Hence the documents can be disclosed after the work order is issued. Once the tender process is completed and contract has been awarded, it will not influence the contract.

No, postal charges shall be met by the Public Authority.

Secretary of Panchayats, (BDO) for rural areas and Secretary, Municipal Corporation and Secretary, City Corporation are the authorities concerned.

No. All officers must assist PIOs to process applications and provide information if requested by the PIO. All such officers will be considered to be PIOs for the purpose of contravention of this Act. If a PIO is not given information by a senior when he requests their assistance, accordingly it is the senior, who will be penalized and not the PIO. To protect against a penalty, it is advisable that PIOs make this in writing.