Section 20 of RTI Act : Section 20: Penalties

Bare Act

(1) Where the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission, as the case may be, at the time of deciding any complaint or appeal is of the opinion that the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, has, without any reasonable cause, refused to receive an application for information or has not furnished information within the time specified under sub-section (1) of section 7 or malafidely denied the request for information or knowingly given incorrect, incomplete or misleading information or destroyed information which was the subject of the request or obstructed in any manner in furnishing the information, it shall impose a penalty of two hundred and fifty rupees each day till application is received or information is furnished, so however, the total amount of such penalty shall not exceed twenty-five thousand rupees: Provided that the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall be given a reasonable opportunity of being heard before any penalty is imposed on him: Provided further that the burden of proving that he acted reasonably and diligently shall be on the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer, as the case may be.

(2) Where th...

The content above is a free preview available without login.

Login now to access this section in the Kanoon Library and unlock full, well-structured, and expertly formatted content with KanoonGPT Search and easy navigation using previous/next section buttons.

Simplified Act

(1) If the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission believes that a Central or State Public Information Officer has wrongly refused to accept a request for information, failed to provide the information in time, intentionally denied the request, provided false or incomplete information, destroyed the requested information, or otherwise blocked access to the information, they can fine the officer 250 rupees for each day the information is delayed. However, the total fine ca...

Explanation using Example

Imagine that Rahul, a citizen, filed a request under the Right to Information Act to the State Public Information Officer (SPIO) seeking details on the funds allocated for road construction in his locality. The SPIO, without any reasonable cause, failed to respond to Rahul's request within the stipulated 30 days and did not even acknowledge the receipt of the application.

Rahul files a complaint with the State Information Commission (SIC). Upon reviewing the case, the...