No RTI reply in 30 days: the first appeal

What has probably happened

You sent an RTI application to a government office: for the status of your pension, a copy of a file, the details of some work done in your area. A month has gone by. Either nothing has come, or a letter came that does not answer what you asked — a one-line "information not available", a refusal with no reason, or answers to questions you never asked.

Under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act), the office's Public Information Officer (PIO) — the officer named to answer RTI applications — must give you the information, or reject the request with reasons, within 30 days of receiving it. Where the information concerns a person's life or liberty, the limit is 48 hours (Section 7(1)). If the PIO does not decide in time, the law says the PIO is deemed to have refused your request — it is treated as a refusal, even though no one wrote one (Section 7(2)).

That refusal, or a bad reply, gives you the right to a first appeal (Section 19(1)). It goes to an officer senior in rank to the PIO in the same office, usually called the First Appellate Authority (FAA). It is a written appeal; you do not need an advocate for it.

If you have not sent an application yet, start with getting information from a government office.

What to do, step by step

Step 1 — work out the day the reply was due. Start from the day the office received your application: the delivery date on the postal tracking record, the date stamped on your copy, or the online registration date. Add 30 days.

• Add 5 days if you gave it to an Assistant Public Information Officer (APIO), who receives applications and forwards them (Section 5(2)).
• If the PIO wrote asking for a further fee for copies, leave out the time between their letter and your payment (Section 7(3)).
• If your application was transferred to another office, that must happen within five days, and you must be told (Section 6(3)). Your reply is then due from the new office.

The day after that is the first day you can appeal.

Step 2 — decide what went wrong. Write it down in one or two lines for each question in your application. The usual grounds are:

• no reply at all within the time limit;
• a refusal with no reason, or a reason that is not one of the exemptions the Act allows in Sections 8 and 9;
• a reply that does not say who the appellate authority is, or how long you have to appeal, as Section 7(8) requires;
• an incomplete or misleading reply, or an answer to a different question;
• a demand for a fee you think is unreasonable, or for copies after the time limit had passed, when they should be free (Section 7(6)).

Step 3 — find the appellate authority. A refusal letter must name the appellate authority (Section 7(8)). If no reply came, look on the office's website or its RTI page for the name of the First Appellate Authority. If you cannot find a name, address it to "The First Appellate Authority" under the RTI Act, with the office's name and address.

Step 4 — write and send the appeal, within 30 days. The 30 days run from the day the reply was due, or from the day a bad reply reached you (Section 19(1)). The appeal should give your name and address, the details of your application, what went wrong, and what you want the appellate authority to order. RTI first appeal: format and grounds shows a full sample. Attach a copy of your application, the proof of the date it was received, and the reply if one came.

Send it the way you sent the application. Central government offices take first appeals on the government's RTI Online portal, against the registration number of your application. Otherwise send it by speed post or registered post and keep the receipt, or hand it in and get a stamped copy. You can also hand it to an APIO, who must forward it (Section 5(2)).

Step 5 — wait for the decision. The appellate authority must decide the appeal within 30 days of receiving it, or within 45 days at most if it records its reasons in writing (Section 19(6)). It may decide on the papers or call you to a hearing.

Step 6 — if the appeal fails, go to the Information Commission. If the appeal is not decided in time, or the decision does not get you the information, a second appeal lies to the Central Information Commission (for central government offices) or the State Information Commission (for state offices) within 90 days from the date the decision should have been made or was actually received (Section 19(3)). There, it is for the PIO to prove the refusal was justified (Section 19(5)). See RTI second appeal.

Timeline and costs

When	What	Who pays
Day 0	The office receives your application	—
Day 30 (48 hours for life or liberty; 35 days through an APIO)	Reply due; none in time counts as a refusal	—
Within 30 days after that	First appeal to the First Appellate Authority	No fee under the Act itself; check the state's rules for a state office. If you want it written for you: ₹299 with eMunshi, all-inclusive
30 days, at most 45, after the appeal	Decision on the appeal	Copies free if the PIO was late
Within 90 days after that	Second appeal to the Information Commission	The advocate's fee, which they quote first

Documents to keep handy

• A copy of your RTI application, exactly as sent.
• Proof of the date it was received: postal receipt and tracking record, stamped copy, or the online registration number.
• The fee receipt, or your BPL card copy if you claimed exemption.
• Every letter from the office: transfer notices, fee demands, the reply and its envelope.
• A copy of your first appeal and proof of the date it was received.

Mistakes that sink people

• Writing a fresh RTI application instead of appealing. It restarts the 30 days and leaves the first refusal unchallenged.
• Counting from the wrong date. The reply is due 30 days after the office received the application.
• Sending the appeal to the PIO. It goes to the officer senior to the PIO, not to the officer who failed to reply.
• Missing the 30 days for the appeal. A late appeal needs a reason the authority accepts.
• Asking new questions in the appeal. An appeal is about the information you already asked for. New questions need a new application.
• Going straight to the Commission with a second appeal before filing a first appeal. The second appeal is against the first appeal's decision.

When you need more help

The first appeal is short and you can write it yourself, or let eMunshi draft it from your answers. A second appeal before the Information Commission can involve a hearing; an independent advocate from our panel can take it on. A 30-minute call to talk it through starts at ₹999.