RTI public information officers: how to find the right PIO

Who the PIO is

Under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act), every public authority must designate officers to give information to people who ask for it. They are called Public Information Officers (PIOs). A public authority must designate as many as it needs, in all its administrative units or offices (Section 5(1)). So one department may have many PIOs, each for a different office or wing.

A public authority is any body set up by or under the Constitution, by a law of Parliament or of a state legislature, or by a government notification or order. It also includes a body owned, controlled or substantially financed by the government, and a non-government organisation substantially financed, directly or indirectly, by government funds (Section 2(h)).

The PIO's duties:

• to deal with your request and give you reasonable assistance (Section 5(3));
• to help you put an oral request into writing if you cannot write (Section 6(1));
• to reply within 30 days, or 48 hours where the information concerns a person's life or liberty (Section 7(1)).

The PIO may ask any other officer for help, and that officer is then treated as a PIO for the purposes of the Act (Sections 5(4) and 5(5)). So "it is with another section" is not a reason to delay your reply.

Central or state: which kind of PIO

The Act has Central PIOs (CPIOs) and State PIOs (SPIOs). Which one applies depends on the appropriate Government for the body: the Central Government if the body is set up, owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Central Government or a Union territory administration, and the state government if it is so linked to a state (Section 2(a)).

If the records are with…	The PIO is a…	What follows
A central ministry or department, or a body set up, owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Central Government	Central PIO	Central RTI rules and fee; second appeal to the Central Information Commission
A state department, or a body set up, owned, controlled or substantially financed by a state government	State PIO	That state's RTI rules and fee; second appeal to the State Information Commission

For central government offices, the application fee is ₹10. Each state sets its own fee for its own offices. See the RTI application format for how to pay it.

A few intelligence and security organisations named in the Act's Second Schedule are outside it, except for information about corruption and human rights violations (Section 24).

Where to find the right PIO

The law makes the public authority tell you. Look in this order:

1. The office's own website. Every public authority must publish the names, designations and other particulars of its PIOs (Section 4(1)(b)(xvi)), together with a directory of its officers (Section 4(1)(b)(ix)), and update these publications every year. The Act asks authorities to make this information widely available, including on the internet (Section 4(2) to 4(4)). Look for a page called "RTI", "Right to Information" or "proactive disclosure".
2. The government's RTI guide. The appropriate Government must publish and update a guide for citizens, which must include the postal address, phone number and, if available, email address of the PIO of every public authority (Section 26(3)(b)).
3. The office notice board. Many offices put up the PIO's and the appellate authority's details at the counter.
4. The government's RTI portal. Central government offices take applications on the RTI Online portal, where you choose the ministry or department from a list. Many states have their own portal.
5. Ask at the counter. You are entitled to reasonable help (Section 5(3)).

Which office, not which officer. What matters most is sending it to the public authority that holds the records. Think about who actually keeps the file: the office that received your application, issued the order, made the payment or ran the scheme. If a file moved from a district office to a state directorate, the directorate may hold it now.

The Assistant PIO

Every public authority must also designate an Assistant Public Information Officer (APIO) at each sub-divisional or sub-district level. The APIO's job is to receive applications and appeals and forward them at once to the right PIO, appellate officer or Information Commission (Section 5(2)). You can give your application to an APIO (Section 6(1)(b)).

Use an APIO when the PIO sits in a distant head office. When you do, five days are added to the 30-day reply time (Section 5(2)). The Act counts a Central APIO as a Central PIO for the purposes of the definition (Section 2(c)).

If you send it to the wrong office

You do not lose your application. If the information is held by another public authority, or its subject matter is more closely connected with another authority's functions, the office that received it must transfer the application, or the relevant part, to that authority, and tell you immediately. The transfer must be made as soon as practicable and in no case later than five days from receipt (Section 6(3)).

Keep the transfer letter. It tells you which office now has your application, and the reply time runs for that office.

Step by step: getting it to the right PIO

1. Name the records you want and the office that keeps them.
2. Work out central or state from who set up, owns, controls or funds the office.
3. Check the office's website for its RTI page and the PIO for that unit. Note the PIO's designation and address, and the appellate authority's.
4. Address the application to "The Public Information Officer", with the office name and address. Add the designation if the website gives one.
5. Send it by the office's RTI portal, by speed post or registered post, or by hand with a stamped acknowledgement. If the PIO's office is far, hand it to the local APIO.
6. Keep proof of the date. The reply is due 30 days from the day the PIO receives it.

If something goes wrong

• No PIO has been appointed, or the APIO refuses your application. Complain to the Central or State Information Commission (Section 18(1)(a)).
• No reply in 30 days, or a reply you disagree with. File a first appeal within 30 days to the officer senior to the PIO in the same public authority (Section 19(1)). The PIO's reply must name this officer if it refuses you (Section 7(8)).
• The PIO refused to receive your application or delayed without reasonable cause. The Information Commission can impose a penalty on the PIO (Section 20).

Costs

What	Who pays
Finding the PIO	Free — the law requires it to be published
The application fee	₹10 for central government offices; states set their own; nothing for people below the poverty line
The application written for you, addressed to the right PIO	₹299 with eMunshi, all-inclusive — drafted from your answers, a PDF with a Hindi copy, a filing guide with the fee steps, and two revisions
First appeal, if needed	₹299 with eMunshi

Mistakes that sink people

• Writing to the minister or head of department instead of the PIO.
• Picking the office by name, not by records. Ask who holds the file.
• Mixing central and state offices in one application.
• Paying the central fee to a state office without checking its rules.
• Throwing away the transfer letter. It shows where your application went.

For the full RTI route, see getting information from a government office. A second appeal before the Information Commission is a hearing; an independent advocate from our panel can take it on — see RTI second appeal.