Every other page on this site tells you which form to file and which office to file it at. This is the page for when you did all that and nothing happened. RTI is not a complaint. It's a law with a deadline and a personal penalty attached — and it is the cheapest leverage a citizen has.
Most people think it's for journalists and activists. It's mostly for people whose ordinary paperwork got stuck.
A certified copy of a deed, a khatiyan entry, your own file. If the office is sitting on it, RTI compels them to hand it over or state a legal reason.
Ask for the current status, the file notings, the name of the officer holding it, and the date it reached them. Asking for the notings is what makes files move — it means someone will read who sat on it.
If a scheme, mutation or claim was refused, ask for the reason recorded in the file and the rule it relied on. Very often no reason was ever written down — which is itself the answer.
Bihar has something no other state does, and almost nobody outside Bihar knows it exists.
You call, an operator writes your RTI for you, and it gets filed. Set up in January 2007 specifically to bridge the literacy and digital divide — "information at your doorstep". It has been running ever since and was awarded Best E-Governance Initiative by the Government of India.
155311 — application line
(premium rate, BSNL)
155310 — enquiry line
(normal tariff)
If your land is stuck in a great-grandfather's name, the person who most needs the record is often the person least able to draft a legal application in English on a government website. That's exactly who Jaankari was built for.
The portal also handles 1st Appeal, 2nd Appeal, and application tracking online.
Filing with the wrong government is the most common wasted month.
| Your subject | Which government | Where to file |
|---|---|---|
| Land records, khatiyan, mutation, survey, police, revenue | State | Your state's RTI portal, or post to the PIO of that office. Bihar: Jaankari. |
| Passport, income tax, railways, central ministries, nationalised banks | Central | rtionline.gov.in |
| Municipal, panchayat, state electricity board | State / local body | The body's own PIO. |
Replace the highlighted parts. Keep it boring, factual, and short. An RTI is not a letter of complaint — the more you argue, the easier you are to reject.
This is the one that works. Asking who is holding your file, since when, and for the notings, changes the incentives — because now a name is attached to the delay.
Each rung is free. Keep every acknowledgement — the next rung depends on proving you did the last one.
| Step | Who | When | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTI application · s.6(1) | PIO of the office | Reply due in 30 days. 48 hours if it concerns life or liberty. | ₹10 (central). Free for BPL. |
| First Appeal · s.19(1) | First Appellate Authority — senior to the PIO, same office | File within 30 days. Decided within 30 days. | Free |
| Second Appeal · s.19(3) | State Information Commission, or CIC for central bodies | File within 90 days of the First Appeal decision or its lapse. | Free |
| Penalty · s.20 | Imposed only by the Information Commission — never the FAA | Where the PIO refused, delayed, misled, or destroyed records without reasonable cause. | ₹250/day, max ₹25,000 — from the officer's own pocket |
Almost always for form, not substance. Avoid these and most refusals evaporate.
RTI gets you information held on record — not opinions, explanations, or answers invented for you. "Why has my mutation not been done?" can be refused. "Copies of all file notings on application no. X dated Y" cannot. Same objective, different reception. Ask for documents, and let the documents answer the question.
Section 6(2): you are not required to give any reason. Don't. Every sentence of background story is a sentence someone can argue with, and a reason you supply is a reason that can be judged inadequate. Keep it to what you want.
"All papers about my land" invites "please specify". Give khata, khesra, mouza, anchal, district, year, application numbers, dates — everything you know. Precision is what makes refusal difficult.
If you file with the wrong office, Section 6(3) obliges them to transfer it to the right one within 5 days — not to reject it. Cite 6(3) in the application (the templates above do) and the "not our department" reply stops being an ending.
30 days for the First Appeal, 90 for the Second. Diarise them the day you file. An unappealed refusal simply stands, however wrong it was.
Keep the postal receipt, the acknowledgement, the diary number, screenshots of online filings. The appeal is built on proving what you sent and when. Send by registered post with acknowledgement due if filing on paper.
Being honest about the limits, so you don't waste a month.
RTI gets you the record. It does not settle who owns the land. If someone else is in possession, you need a lawyer and a court — RTI only arms you with the paperwork.
Only public authorities, and bodies substantially financed by government. A private bank or company is out of reach — though the regulator is not.
Some information can be legitimately withheld — personal information of third parties, matters under investigation, and others. But it must be reasoned. A refusal that cites no section at all is not a refusal, it's a delay.