Right to Information
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. The Act applies to all States and Union Territories of India except Jammu & Kashmir. under the provisions of the Act, any citizen may seek 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 15th June 2005 and came fully into force on 12th 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.
Download: The_RTI_Act_2005 English
Download: The_RTI_Act_2005 Hindi