An RTI Request That Lands on the Wrong Desk
On 3 March 2025 an applicant submits an RTI application by registered post to the High Court. It is received in the Central Public Information Officer’s office on 5 March 2025. The application asks for two things: (i) a certified copy of a judgment delivered on 12 January 2025 in a writ petition in which the applicant was a party; and (ii) the full service record and medical history of a judicial officer whose transfer order the applicant wants to challenge. The applicant paid the prescribed fee. The CPIO’s office has a judgment copy in the registry and the service record in the Registrar (Administration)’s section. The medical history is in a sealed cover. The CPIO must reply within the statutory period, route each request correctly, and avoid disclosing exempt material. The office also has an internal noting that says 'transfer the whole application to the Registrar General under Section 6(3)'.
1. Compute the last date for reply and explain when the statutory period starts.
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The application was received on 5 March 2025, not on 3 March when it was posted. Under Section 7(1) of the Right to Information Act, the CPIO has 30 days from receipt.
Count from 6 March as day 1. March has 26 days available from 6 to 31 March. That leaves 4 days in April: 1, 2, 3 and 4 April. The 30th day is therefore 4 April 2025.
If 4 April were a court holiday, the reply could be given on the next working day, but the period is not extended because the file moves slowly inside the High Court. The 5-day period under Section 6(3) does not apply here: that provision is for transferring an application to another public authority, not for internal routing between sections of the same High Court.
2. Should the CPIO transfer the whole application under Section 6(3)? Decide item by item.
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No. Section 6(3) applies only where the information is held by another public authority. Both items are held within the High Court, so a blanket transfer to the Registrar General is legally wrong and would also risk the 30-day deadline. The CPIO remains responsible for the reply.
Item (i), the judgment copy: the judgment is a public judicial document and the applicant was a party. The CPIO should provide a certified copy or route the request internally to the copying section. The CPIO cannot refuse merely because a copying fee is prescribed; if an additional fee is payable, the applicant should be told within the 30-day period and the time for payment handled according to the rules.
Item (ii), service record and medical history: route internally to the Registrar (Administration), but do not disclose the whole file. The transfer order and non-exempt service particulars, such as designation and dates of posting, can ordinarily be disclosed after severance. The medical history is personal information under Section 8(1)(j); it should be withheld unless the applicant shows a larger public interest that outweighs the privacy harm. Reasons must be given, along with the first-appeal particulars.
3. Draft the operative part of the CPIO’s reply in five or six lines.
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- Item (i): a certified copy of the judgment dated 12.01.2025 is enclosed / will be issued on payment of the prescribed copying charges of ₹____.
- Item (ii)(a): the transfer order is enclosed.
- Item (ii)(b): the service record is furnished in part, after severing material not connected with the transfer.
- The medical history is withheld under Section 8(1)(j) as personal information; no larger public interest has been made out.
- If aggrieved, the applicant may prefer a first appeal to the Appellate Authority, High Court, within 30 days of receipt of this reply.
- Central Public Information Officer, High Court.