APPLYING THE LAW

Handling Appeals

All RTI laws in India include an appeal process which is intended to allow a person to apply to a superior body for assistance where they have been given no response, where they believe that their application has been wrongly rejected or even where there has been non-compliance with some other general provision of the law.

The Central Act has a three stage appeal process:

1. Internal appeal to an appellate authority appointed within the public authority;
2. Appeal to either the Central or State Information Commission, a new body established under the Central Act specifically to handle complaints and oversee implementation;
3. Appeal to the courts, either the High Court or Supreme Court.
   • Flowchart for appeals under the Central Act
     

Importantly if a citizen decides to appeal your decision you should not look at this with annoyance, they may just disagree with your interpretation of the law. It is only fair and just that they are allowed this chance to get another persons viewpoint. You should help them as much as possible in getting their appeal to the appellate authority.

It is important that the people responsible for hearing appeals are given proper training in the law, because their job is to review the application of the law by the first decision-maker to ensure that it has been correctly applied.

Please click on the link to the Central RTI Act to read the detailed provisions contained in the law. Please click on the link to CHRI's State RTI pages to find out more about relevant rules and implementation in your specific State.