According to the Indian Constitution, India i.e. Bharat is the Democratic Republic. Such a democracy requires a vigilant citizenry who has the opportunity to become informed of the activities of the government which they have constituted to govern themselves to ward against the possibilities of the former's failure to serve the latter. This requires the government to enable and promote different practices of transparency in its functioning with the objective to contain corruption and to hold governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed.
In order to make the exercise of powers and duties of government or public authorities at the center or the respective states transparent and to hold them accountable to the citizens of India, The Right to Information Act, 2005 was brought into existence. This was in order to eliminate the space or scope for any possible corruption in the functioning of the government machinery which may occur when there is a lack of transparency and accountability from the side of the government to the citizens which it governs.
When there is no way of knowing whether the powers of a public authority are exercised in the service of citizens as per the law of the land or a vigilant citizen has reasons to suspect whether due process of law has been followed in the exercise of such government powers by a public authority, such a vigilant citizen can invoke his rights under Right to Information Act, 2005 to know whether the powers of the government are exercised in accordance with the law in the service of citizens and under certain circumstances also in the service of non-citizens within the territory of India by requesting the public authority to furnish white paper records showing or confirming the presence or absence of exercise of such power or whether or not such power has or has not been exercised according to the procedure established by law.
In order to file a Right to Information before any public authority, one must first understand what constitutes a public authority under the Act of 2005. Public Authority under the Right to Information Act,2005 means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted by the Indian Constitution or any law made by the Central or State Government and also includes a body owned, controlled, or substantially financed by the Central or State Government. The Right to Information Act, 2005 establishes a very simple procedure to invoke its scope and ambit by a citizen and under certain circumstances a non-citizen.
There is with every public authority exercising governmental powers, a designated Public Information Officer (PIO) vested with the responsibility to furnish the required information requested by a citizen or a non-citizen through a valid application made for the same addressed to the PIO specifically disclosing the records or documents sought by such citizen or non-citizen along with the mode of payment made by the applicant in lieu of application fee under the Act. For this purpose, the address and designation of such PIO shall be disclosed in the official website maintained by such public authority including the mode of payment of application fees or additional charges if any that must be made and attached along with the application. Such application must contain a subject titled “APPLICATION MADE UNDER RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT,2005”.
Following is a generic template showing the salient features of an ideal RTI application
From,
Name and
Address of Applicant
To,
Public Information Officer
Name and Address of the Public Authority
Subject: Application made under Right to Information Act
Sir/Ma’am.
Particulars of the Records or Documents sought for the applicant from the Public Information Officer concerning the public authority. Also Disclosing the mode of payment of application fees and any other additional charges to be attached along with the letter.
Kind Regards,
Name and Signature
Date:
Place: