How do I file an RTI application in Odisha?

What RTI in Odisha covers

RTI in Odisha works under the Right to Information Act, 2005, a central law, read with the Odisha Right to Information Rules, 2005 (framed as the Orissa Right to Information Rules and amended in 2006), which fix the forms and fees for State public authorities. Any citizen can ask for information held by a public authority: a department, a Tahasil or Collectorate, a municipal body such as the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, the police, a government school or hospital, a State public sector undertaking, and bodies substantially financed by the State. You do not have to give a reason (Section 6(2)).

Offices of the Central Government located in Odisha, such as post offices, railways, central public sector undertakings and nationalised banks, follow the central RTI Rules and can be approached on the central portal, rtionline.gov.in. The Orissa High Court and the courts under it follow their own RTI rules and have a separate online RTI system; check the High Court website for the current fee and form.

Who to write to

Every public authority names a Public Information Officer and, at sub-divisional or block level, often an Assistant PIO who receives applications and forwards them. The PIO's name is usually displayed in the office and in the authority's suo motu disclosure under Section 4. If you send the application to the wrong office, the PIO must transfer it to the right one within five days (Section 6(3)), but writing to the correct office saves weeks.

Common examples: for a mutation case file or the order sheet of a revenue case, the PIO of the Tahasil (see how mutation works in Odisha); for the status of an FIR investigation, the PIO of the district police office, subject to the exemptions below; for a building plan file, the development authority.

How to file an RTI application on paper

1. Write the application. Use Form A of the Odisha Rules or a plain letter addressed to the PIO. Give your name, address and phone number, and list the information you want in short numbered points, with dates, case numbers, plot or khata numbers and the period covered.
2. Ask for the form of information you need. State whether you want photocopies, certified copies by the PIO, inspection of the file, or a CD.
3. Pay the fee. The application fee is ₹10, paid in cash against a receipt or by treasury challan; Indian Postal Orders are also commonly accepted. Write the receipt or challan number on the application. If you hold a BPL card, attach a copy and pay nothing.
4. Submit and keep proof. Hand it in at the office and take a dated acknowledgement, or send it by registered or speed post and keep the receipt and tracking record.

RTI online in Odisha

State departments, directorates and many district offices can be reached through the Odisha Government's RTI portal, rtiodisha.gov.in, run under the State's RTI Central Monitoring Mechanism. According to the portal:

• you fill the online form, choose the department and public authority, and type or upload the request (doc, pdf, xls or jpg);
• a photocopy of an identity proof must be uploaded; BPL applicants upload the BPL card and pay no fee;
• the fee is paid online by net banking or an SBI debit card, and the application can only be submitted after payment;
• it reaches the Nodal PIO electronically, so no paper copy is needed, and any demand for further fees appears in the status report and by email.

The same portal has an online form for a first appeal.

Odisha RTI fee and copying charges

BPL card holders are exempt from the application and appeal fees. Fees can be revised by notification, so check the current position with the office or on the portal before you pay. If the PIO asks for copying charges (in Form B), deposit them within 15 days; the time taken to pay is not counted against the PIO's 30 days (Section 7(3)).

Time limits for the reply

• 30 days from receipt by the PIO (Section 7(1)); five more days where the application was given to an Assistant PIO (Section 5(2)).
• 48 hours where the information concerns the life or liberty of a person.
• 40 days where third-party information is involved and the third party has to be heard (Section 11).
• No reply within the time limit counts as a refusal (Section 7(2)), and you can go straight to first appeal. Information supplied late must be given free of charge (Section 7(6)).

What can be refused

Section 8 lists exemptions: information affecting national security, matters under investigation where disclosure would impede it, commercial confidence, information held in a fiduciary relationship, and cabinet papers, among others. A refusal must give reasons, the section relied on and the appellate authority's details.

Personal information: since 13 November 2025, when Section 44(3) of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 came into force, Section 8(1)(j) permits a PIO to withhold personal information without the earlier larger-public-interest test. Requests for another person's records, such as their service file or assets, are now more likely to be refused. Information about your own case, or about decisions and file movement in an office, is generally not affected.

First appeal

If you get no reply, a refusal, incomplete information or an unreasonable fee demand, file a first appeal within 30 days to the First Appellate Authority, an officer senior to the PIO in the same authority (Section 19(1)). In Odisha use Form D, with the ₹20 court fee stamp unless you are a BPL card holder. Attach your application, the postal or acknowledgement proof and the PIO's reply. The appellate authority should decide within 30 days, or 45 days with recorded reasons.

Second appeal to the Odisha Information Commission

If the first appeal fails or is not decided, a second appeal lies to the Odisha Information Commission within 90 days of the date the first appeal decision was, or should have been, made (Section 19(3)). Use Form E with the ₹25 court fee stamp. The Commission's office is at Block B1, Toshali Bhawan, Satyanagar, Bhubaneswar 751007 (suchana.odisha.gov.in).

The Commission can order disclosure, award compensation to the applicant (Section 19(8)(b)) and impose a penalty on a PIO who refused or delayed without reasonable cause, at ₹250 a day up to ₹25,000 (Section 20). A separate complaint under Section 18 can be filed for problems such as an office refusing to accept the application or having no PIO. If a Commission order is not complied with, or is itself wrong in law, the remedy lies in the Orissa High Court (see writ petitions under Article 226).

Practical points for land, police and court matters

• Certified copies versus RTI copies. For use in court, a certified copy issued under the office's own copying rules (for example, from the Tahasil record room or the court copying section) is usually the safer document. RTI is most useful when an office will not give copies or you need to know what happened on a file.
• Ask for file notings and dates. "Copies of the order sheet and note sheets of Mutation Case No. ... with dates of each action" gets a clearer answer than "why is my mutation pending?". RTI gives access to records; it does not answer questions of opinion.
• Keep it narrow. One subject per application makes it harder to refuse as disproportionate (Section 7(9)).
• For land records already online, check the Record of Rights on Bhulekh first.

If you cannot afford an advocate for an appeal or a later court case, see free legal aid in Odisha.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• RTI portal, Government of Odisha
• Odisha Information Commission
• Odisha RTI (Amendment) Rules, fees schedule (Odisha Review)
• RTI Online, Government of India (central public authorities)
• SFLC.in on the commencement of Section 44(3), DPDP Act

General information, not legal advice. Every matter turns on its own facts and documents, and the law and official procedures change. Check the current position with the concerned office, or take advice on your own facts, before acting.