The Right to Information Act (RTI) is an Act of the Parliament of India "to provide for setting out the
practical regime of right to information for citizens" and replaces
the erstwhile Freedom of information Act, 2002. Under the provisions of the
Act, any citizen 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 computerize their records for wide dissemination and to
proactively 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 12 October 2005. The first
application was given to a Pune police station. Information disclosure in India
was restricted by the Official Secrets Act 1923 and various other special laws, which the new RTI Act
relaxes. It codifies a fundamental right of citizens.
THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005
No. 22 of 2005
[15th June, 2005]
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.
Whereas the
Constitution of India has established democratic Republic;
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:—
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