RTI Act

The Right to Information Act 2005 (Act No. 22/2005) is a law enacted by the Parliament of India, giving citizens of India access to records of Central Government and State Governments. The Act applies to all States and Union Territories of India, except the State of Jammu and Kashmir - which is covered under a State-level law. Under the provisions of the Act, any citizen (including the citizens within J&K) may request information from a "public authority" (a body of Government or "instrumentality of State") which is required to reply expeditiously or within thirty days. The Act also requires every public authority to computerise their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.

This law was passed by Parliament on 15 June 2005 and came fully into force on 13 October 2005. Information disclosure in India was hitherto restricted by the Official Secrets Act 1923 and various other special laws, which the new RTI Act now relaxes.

1. Frequently Asked Question about RTI-2005

The relevant provisions of the Act towards charging fee are as under:

•  A request for obtaining information under Sub-section (1) of Section 6 shall be accompanied by an application fee of Rs.10.00 by way of cash against proper receipt or by demand draft or Indian Postal Order (IPO) in the name of the ‘The Director, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute’ payable at Hyderabad, Telangana.
• For providing the information under Sub-section (1) of Section 7, the fee shall be charged by way of cash against proper receipt or by Demand draft or Indian Postal Order (IPO) payable to the ‘The Director, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute’ at following rates:

1. Rs.2.00 for each page (in A4/A3 size paper) created or copied.
2. Actual charge or cost price of a copy in larger size paper.
3. Actual cost or price for samples or models; and
4. For inspection of records, no fee for first hour; and a fee of Rupees 5.00 for each fifteen minutes (or fraction thereof) thereafter.

3. For providing the information under Sub-section (5) of Section 7, the fee shall be charged by way of cash against proper receipt or by Demand draft payable to the ‘The Director, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute’ at following rates:

• a. Information provided on CD Rs.50.00 per CD; and
• b. For information provided in printed from at the price fixed for such publication or Rs.2.00 per page of photocopy for extracts from the publications.

The payment (and correspondence if any) may be sent to:

Smt. V. V. S. Lakshmi
Central Public Information Officer
CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute,
Uppal Road, Hyderabad –500007 (Telangana)
Phone: 040-27012889 

Dr. Kusumita Arora
Appellate Authority 
CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute,
Uppal Road, Hyderabad – 500007 (Telangana)
Phone: 040-27012783