If you want to get your government service or certificate without paying a bribe or using a middleman, and you’re not in a hurry, you can file an RTI application online for ₹10. Below are common challenges, solutions, and a sample RTI application for delayed services to guide you.

Selecting the correct ‘Public Authority’ 

One major challenge is identifying the correct ‘Public Authority’ or department to file your RTI application with. The search function isn’t intuitive, making it hard to find the right department.

The best approach is to search using the keyword “Reforms” and select ‘Department of Personnel & Administrative Reforms (CISU e-Governance)’ – note that searching for ‘CISU’ alone won’t show this result. This department manages RTI coordination and can forward your request to the appropriate department.

Wording the request

There are multiple nuances to framing your RTI request correctly. For instance, you cannot ask leading or interrogative questions, such as those beginning with ‘how’ or ‘why’ – doing so can lead to rejection. 

Here is a sample text to inquire about the delay in processing your application:

1)Please provide the current status of my <name of certificate> application. 

<Application Number/ Acknowledgement number>

<Date of application>

<Any other details that you provided in the application, such as property ID for property related application, or names of bride and groom for a marriage certificate>

2)What is the prescribed time limit for issuing this Certificate?

3)If the prescribed time limit has been exceeded, please provide details of any action taken under the Sakala Act for the delay in my case.

4)Please provide certified copies of any internal notes, file notings, or correspondence related to the processing of my application.

5)Please provide details of the official responsible for processing my application and the reason for the delay.

6)As per Section 6(3) of the RTI Act, 2005, if the requested information is held by another public authority, I request the PIO to transfer the application (or relevant part of it) within FIVE days and inform me of the transfer immediately.

7)As per Sections 7(8)(iii) and 7(3)(ii) of the RTI Act, 2005, I request the PIO to provide details of the First Appellate Authority.

Points 6 and 7 ensure that your request is directed to the correct department and that you are informed about whom to approach if your application is rejected or if the response is unsatisfactory and you wish to appeal, respectively.

This text takes into account character restrictions such as:

• The text must be under 3,000 characters (including spaces).
• The application does not accept the following characters: ‘ ” ; + * = > < ! [ ] { } ~ ^ \
  • Common special characters: ‘ ” ; (single apostrophe, double apostrophe, semicolon) – For example, use “I am requesting” instead of “I’m requesting.”
  • Mathematical operators: + * = > < !
  • Square & curly brackets: [ ] { }
  • Other restricted symbols: ~ ^ ` (tilde, caret, backtick, backslash)
• Use the following prompt to ask ChatGPT whether any of these special characters appear in a given text: “Check if the string ‘Insert the text of your application here‘ contains any of the following special characters: {‘ ” ; + * = > < ! [ ] { } ~ ^ }. Respond with the specific word that has the special character. If the text does not contain any of the listed special characters, respond with ‘No’.”

Uploading documents

You don’t usually need to upload any documents if you’re only asking why your application is delayed. If you choose to upload documents, keep these points in mind:

• The document must be a single PDF and less than 1MB in size. If you have multiple PDFs, merge them using an online tool like this one. You can compress the file if it exceeds 1MB by using free services available online, such as from Adobe  
• The PDF file name cannot contain spaces. Only letters, numbers, dot (.), underscore (_), and dash (-) are allowed.