No Reply to Your RTI? How to File the First Appeal

If the Public Information Officer (PIO) has not answered your RTI application within 30 days, the law treats it as refused. You can then file a first appeal with the First Appellate Authority, an officer senior to the PIO in the same public authority, within 30 days of the deadline passing. The appeal should be decided within 30 days, or 45 at most. If that fails too, a second appeal lies to the Central or State Information Commission within 90 days.

The 30-day deadline and deemed refusal

Section 7(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 requires the PIO to supply the information, or reject the request with reasons under Sections 8 or 9, within 30 days of receiving it. Information concerning the life or liberty of a person must be given within 48 hours. Section 7(2) then says what happens if the PIO stays silent:

If the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, fails to give decision on the request for information within the period specified under sub-section (1), the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall be deemed to have refused the request.

Section 7(2), Right to Information Act, 2005

A few adjustments affect the count:

• If you handed your application to an Assistant PIO, five days are added (proviso to Section 5(2)).
• If the PIO asked for further fees, the time between the fee intimation and your payment is excluded (Section 7(3)(a)).
• If the information is held by another public authority, Section 6(3) requires the application to be transferred within five days and you must be told about the transfer. Keep the transfer letter, because the other authority then has to deal with it.

One useful rule: under Section 7(6), where the public authority fails to meet the time limit, the information must be provided free of charge. Ask for this in your appeal.

When you can file a first appeal

Section 19(1) gives a right of appeal to anyone who does not receive a decision in time, or who is aggrieved by the PIO's decision. In practice that covers:

• No reply at all within the time limit.
• A rejection, including a rejection citing an exemption you think does not apply.
• A partial, vague or evasive reply, or a reply that does not match what you asked.
• A demand for further fees you consider unreasonable, or information given in a form you did not ask for.

The appeal goes to the officer senior in rank to the PIO in the same public authority. The PIO's reply should name this officer. If there was no reply, check the public authority's website, where the list of PIOs and appellate authorities is usually published, or address it to the First Appellate Authority of that office by designation.

Appeal or complaint: choose the right remedy

Section 18 lets you complain directly to an Information Commission in some situations, such as when no PIO has been appointed or an application was refused at the counter. A complaint is not a substitute for an appeal when you want the information itself. In Chief Information Commissioner v. State of Manipur (2011), the Supreme Court held that while deciding a complaint under Section 18, the Commission has no power to order access to the information; that relief comes through the appeal route under Section 19. The Court said the two sections provide different remedies and one cannot be a substitute for the other.

How to file the first appeal

1. Calculate the date. The appeal is due within 30 days from the expiry of the reply period or from receiving the PIO's decision. If you are late, the appellate authority may still admit the appeal if you show sufficient cause, so explain the delay.
2. Identify the First Appellate Authority by designation and office address.
3. Write the appeal with the details listed in the next section and attach copies of your RTI application, the proof of fee payment and of delivery, and the PIO's reply if any.
4. File it. For central public authorities on the RTI Online portal, use "Submit First Appeal" with the registration number of your original online application. Otherwise send it by post with proof of delivery, or deliver it by hand and get a receiving stamp.
5. Track it. Section 19(6) requires the appeal to be decided within 30 days of receipt, extendable to a total of 45 days with written reasons.

What your first appeal should say

• Your name, address and contact details.
• Name and address of the PIO and the public authority, and the registration or reference number of your application.
• Date of the RTI application, date of fee payment and date of receipt by the office.
• Date of the PIO's reply, or a statement that no reply was received within the time limit, with Section 7(2) cited.
• Your grounds: why the reply is inadequate or the rejection is wrong.
• The relief sought, usually a direction to supply the information within a set time and free of charge under Section 7(6).

Legal Drive's RTI first appeal is laid out this way. If you are still at the earlier stage, start with a properly framed RTI application so the questions are specific and hard to deflect. Where the underlying problem is a pending civic service rather than information, a municipal grievance application may get faster action alongside the RTI.

If the first appeal also fails: the second appeal

Under Section 19(3), a second appeal lies to the Central Information Commission (for central public authorities) or the State Information Commission, within 90 days from the date the first appeal decision should have been made or was actually received. Late appeals can be admitted for sufficient cause. In a second appeal, the PIO carries the burden of proving that the denial was justified (Section 19(5)).

For the Central Information Commission, Rule 8 of the RTI Rules, 2012 asks for copies of the RTI application, the PIO's reply, the first appeal, the first appellate order, other documents relied on and an index. The Commission can direct disclosure, order compensation and, under Section 20, impose a penalty on a PIO of Rs 250 a day up to Rs 25,000 for refusing or delaying information without reasonable cause.

RTI first appeals are often used to push a stalled government process, for example a pending property mutation or a certificate application, where asking for the file notings and the status of your application can prompt action.

LegalFirms has a separate walkthrough on filing the original RTI application if you want to refile a sharper request.