Right to Information Act, 2005

Your housing society’s redevelopment file is stuck in a municipal ward office and nobody will tell you why. You cannot sue for a file you have not seen. Since 2005 a citizen can write a simple application, pay a small fee and ask the office for the record, and if it stays silent for thirty days the silence counts as a refusal that can be appealed. This topic explains the right, its exceptions and the bodies that enforce it.

In two minutes

The Right to Information Act 2005 gives every citizen a right to information held by a public authority, subject to the exemptions in s.8, enforced by Public Information Officers, two tiers of appeal and the Information Commissions.

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