Section 5 of RTI Act : Section 5: Designation Of Public Information Officers

Bare Act

(1) Every public authority shall, within one hundred days of the enactment of this Act, designate as many officers as the Central Public Information Officers or State Public Information Officers, as the case may be, in all administrative units or offices under it as may be necessary to provide information to persons requesting for the information under this Act.

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), every public authority shall designate an officer, within one hundred days of the enactment of this Act, at each sub-divisional level or other sub-district level as a Central Assistant Public Information Officer or a State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, to receive the applications for information or appeals under this Act for forwarding the same forthwith to the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or senior officer specified under sub-section (1) of section 19 or the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission, as the case may be: Provided that where an application for information or appeal is given to a Central Assistant Public Information Officer or a State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, a period of five days shall be added in computing the period for response specified under sub-section (1) of section 7.

(3) Every Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall deal with requests from persons seeking information and render reasonable assistance to the persons seeking such information.

(4) The Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, may seek the assistance of any other officer as he or she considers it necessary for the proper discharge of his or her duties.

(5) Any officer, whose assistance has been sought under sub-section (4), shall render all assistance to the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, seeking his or her assistance and for the purposes of any contravention of the provisions of this Act, such other officer shall be treated as a Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be.

Simplified Act

(1) Within 100 days after this law was passed, every government body must appoint enough officers as Central or State Public Information Officers in every one of their offices. These officers are responsible for giving out information to people who ask for it under this law.

(2) In addition to what's stated above, within 100 days of this law being passed, every government body must also appoint an officer at each local level (like subdivisions or districts) to act as a Central or State Assistant Public Information Officer. These officers will collect requests for information and appeals and send them to the right Public Information Officer or to the relevant Information Commission. If a request or appeal is given to an Assistant Public Information Officer, there will be an extra five days added to the time th...

Explanation using Example

Imagine a citizen named Priya wants to know the status of a road construction project in her locality. The project is being handled by the local municipal corporation, which is a public authority. According to Section 5 of The Right to Information Act, 2005:

• Scenario 1 (Sub-section 1): Within 100 days of the enactment of the RTI Act, the municipal corporation had designated several officers as State Public Information Officers (SPIOs) in various departments. Priya can submit her request for information regarding the road construction project to one of these officers.
• Scenario 2 (Sub-section 2): Priya lives in a remote subdivision of the district. The municipal corporation has also appointed an Assistant Public Information Officer (APIO) at the sub-district level. Priya can approach the APIO with her request, who will then forward it to the appropriate SPIO. The time taken by the APIO to forward the request wi...