An Act to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

And whereas democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed;

And whereas revelation of information in actual practice is likely to conflict with other public interests including efficient operations of the Governments, optimum use of limited fiscal resources and the preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information;

And whereas it is necessary to harmonise these conflicting interests while preserving the paramountcy of the democratic ideal;

Now, therefore, it is expedient to provide for furnishing certain information to citizens who desire to have it.

Be it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-sixth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—

CHAPTER I

 Preliminary

  1… This Act may be called the Right to Information Act, 2005

 2… It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir

  3…The provisions of sub-section (1) of section 4, sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 5, sections    

      12, 13, 15,16, 24 , 27 and 28 shall come into force at once, and the remaining provisions of  this Act shall come into force on the one hundred and twentieth day of its enactment.

 2..In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

 a)        "appropriate Government" means in relation to a public authority which is established,  constituted, owned, controlled or substantially financed by funds provided directly or  indirectly

 b)       by the Central Government or the Union territory administration, the Central Government

 c)      by the State Government, the State Government;

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 CHAPTER II

 Right to information and obligations of public authorities

 Subject to the provisions of this Act, all citizens shall have the right to information.

 Every public authority shall—

 a)    Maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and the form which facilitates the right to information under this Act and ensure that all records that are appropriate to be computerised are, within a reasonable time and subject to availability of resources, computerised and connected through a network all over the country on different systems so that access to such records is facilitated;

 Publish within one hundred and twenty days from the enactment of this Act,—

 the powers and duties of its officers and employees;

 the procedure followed in the decision making process, including channels of supervision and accountability;

 the particulars of any arrangement that exists for consultation with, or representation by, the members of the public in relation to the formulation of its policy or implementation thereof;

 a statement of the boards, councils, committees and other bodies consisting of two or more persons constituted as its part or for the purpose of its advice, and as to whether meetings of those boards, councils, committees and other body the monthly remuneration received by each of its officers and employees, including the system of compensation as provided in its regulations dies are open to the public, or the minutes of such meetings are accessible for public;

 the budget allocated to each of its agency, indicating the particulars of all plans, proposed expenditures and reports on disbursements made;

 particulars of recipients of concessions, permits or authorisations granted by it;

 the particulars of facilities available to citizens for obtaining information, including the working hours of a library or reading room, if maintained for public use;

 It shall be a constant Endeavour of every public authority to take steps in accordance with the requirements of clause (b) of sub-section (1) to provide as much information suo motu to the public at regular intervals through various means of communications, including internet, so that the public have minimum resort to the use of this Act to obtain information.

 All materials shall be disseminated taking into consideration the cost effectiveness, local language and the most effective method of communication in that local area and the information should be easily accessible, to the extent possible in electronic format with the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, available free or at such cost of the medium or the print cost price as may be prescribed.

 Every public authority shall, within one hundred days of the enactment of this Act, designate as many officers as the Central Public Information Officers or State Public Information Officers, as the case may be, in all administrative units or offices under it as may be necessary to provide information to persons requesting for the information under this Act.

Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), every public authority shall designate an officer, within one hundred days of the enactment of this Act, at each sub-divisional level or other sub-district level as a Central Assistant Public Information Officer or a State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, to receive the applications for information or appeals under this Act for forwarding the same forthwith to the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or senior officer specified under sub-section (1) of section 19 or the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission, as the case may be:

Provided that where an application for information or appeal is given to a Central Assistant Public Information Officer or a State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, a period of five days shall be added in computing the period for response specified under sub-section (