CHAPTER I
Preliminary

1

Short title, extent and commencement:
 

(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

Definitions:

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—

(i) 

by the Central Government or the Union territory administration, the Central Government;

(ii)

by the State Government, the State Government;
 

(b)

"Central Information Commission" means the Central Information Commission constituted under sub-section (1) of section 12;

(c)

"Central Public Information Officer" means the Central Public Information Officer designated under sub-section (1) and includes a Central Assistant Public Information Officer designated as such under sub-section (2) of section 5;

(d)

"Chief Information Commissioner" and "Information Commissioner" mean the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioner appointed under sub-section (3) of section 12;

(e)

"competent authority" means—

(i)

the Speaker in the case of the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of a State or a Union territory having such Assembly and the Chairman in the case of the Council of States or Legislative Council of a State;

(ii)

the Chief Justice of India in the case of the Supreme Court;

(iii)

the Chief Justice of the High Court in the case of a High Court;

(iv)

the President or the Governor, as the case may be, in the case of other authorities established or constituted by or under the Constitution;

(v)

the administrator appointed under article 239 of the Constitution;
 

(f)

"information" means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force;
 

(g)

"prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act by the appropriate Government or the competent authority, as the case may be;

(h)

"public authority" means any authority or body or institution of self- government established or constituted—

(a)

by or under the Constitution;

(b)

by any other law made by Parliament;

(c)

by any other law made by State Legislature;

(d)

by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any—

(i) 

body owned, controlled or substantially financed;

(ii)

 non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government;

(i)

"record" includes—

(a)

any document, manuscript and file;

(b)

any microfilm, microfiche and facsimile copy of a document;

(c)

any reproduction of image or images embodied in such microfilm (whether enlarged or not); and

(d)

any other material produced by a computer or any other device;

(j)

"right to information" means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to—

(i)

inspection of work, documents, records;

(ii)

taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records;

(iii)

taking certified samples of material;

(iv) 

obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device;

(k)

 "State Information Commission" means the State Information Commission constituted under sub-section (1) of section 15;

(l)

 "State Chief Information Commissioner" and "State Information Commissioner" mean the State Chief Information Commissioner and the State Information Commissioner appointed under sub-section (3) of section 15;

(m)

"State Public Information Officer" means the State Public Information Officer designated under sub-section (1) and includes a State Assistant Public Information Officer designated as such under sub-section (2) of section 5;

(n)

"third party" means a person other than the citizen making a request for information and includes a public authority.

Right to information and obligations of public authorities
 

3

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

4

(1)

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;

(b)

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

(i)

 the particulars of its organisation, functions and duties;