RTI Reporter Law reports on the Right to Information Act, 2005

The law report of the Right to Information Act.

RTI Reporter is a printed series devoted to one statute. Each volume reports the decisions that interpret the Act, with a headnote for every case and an index arranged by section.

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Reporting from
  • Supreme Court of India
  • High Courts
  • Central Information Commission

s. 3

Who relies on RTI Reporter

Section 3 gives the right to every citizen, so the readership is wider than the Bar.

  • Advocates

    Authority on a point under the Act, located by section in minutes rather than assembled from scattered sources before a hearing.

  • Judicial officers

    Decisions of the Supreme Court and the High Courts on the Act, reported in full with a headnote that states what was decided.

  • Information Commissions

    A record of how the Commission and the courts have read each exemption, useful when drafting orders that will be tested in writ.

  • Public authorities and PIOs

    Guidance for Public Information Officers and First Appellate Authorities on what must be disclosed, within what time, and what may be withheld.

  • Law libraries and universities

    A bound, citable series for the shelf, with annual indexes that keep the run usable year after year.

  • RTI activists and citizens

    The decisions that shape what can be asked for, written up so that a non-lawyer can follow the reasoning.

ss. 18–19

What you'll find in every volume

A dispute under the Act can pass from the Commission to a High Court and on to the Supreme Court. Each volume follows it at every stage.

  1. Supreme Court of India

    Judgments on the Act and on the right to know under Article 19(1)(a), reported in full.

  2. High Courts

    Writ petitions against orders of the Information Commissions, and the appeals that follow them.

  3. Central Information Commission

    Decisions on second appeals and complaints, selected for the point of law or practice they settle.

  4. Headnotes and notes

    A headnote for every decision, and an editorial note where a decision develops or departs from earlier law.

ss. 1–31

How RTI Reporter is organised

Citation

Every decision carries a citation in one fixed form: [Year] Vol RTI Page (SC). The forum appears at the end, so the court or commission is clear from the citation alone. How to cite

Headnote

Catchwords naming the provisions in issue, then a headnote stating the question and what was held, then the statutory provisions and earlier decisions referred to.

Subject index

An annual index arranged by section of the Act, so that every decision on, say, third-party information under section 11 is listed together.

Table of cases

An alphabetical table of every decision reported in the year, with its citation and forum.

s. 2(f)

How judgments are reported

The layout of a reported decision. The entry below is illustrative: it shows the form of a report, not a decision reported in RTI Reporter.

Illustrative entry

Citation

[Year] Vol RTI Page (SC)

Catchwords

Right to Information Act, 2005, ss. 2(f) and 8(1)(e). Evaluated answer books. Whether “information”. Whether held by an examining body in a fiduciary relationship with the examinee.

Headnote

An examinee sought inspection of their evaluated answer book. The examining body refused, relying on the exemption for information available to a person in a fiduciary relationship.

Held

An evaluated answer book records the examiner's assessment and is “information” within section 2(f). The examining body does not hold it in a fiduciary relationship with the examinee, so section 8(1)(e) does not bar disclosure. The examinee may inspect it, subject to the other exemptions in section 8.

Referred to

Right to Information Act, 2005, ss. 2(f), 2(j), 8(1)(e).

s. 22

Why a dedicated reporter

The Act overrides inconsistent laws under section 22. A statute with that reach deserves a report of its own.

  • Only the RTI Act

    Nothing else competes for the pages. Every decision reported is a decision on the right to information.

  • Every forum in one series

    The Commission's view and the courts' view of the same provision sit in the same volume, so a reader sees how a question was finally answered.

  • A body of law that keeps growing

    Since 2005 the Act has produced its own jurisprudence on exemptions, third-party information and penalties. It needs its own reporter.

  • Professional headnoting

    Headnotes are written by editors who practise in the field and state the ratio, not a summary of the facts.

  • Indexed by section

    Every decision is indexed against the sections of the Act it decides, so the law on any provision can be read in one place.

  • Plans for institutions

    Libraries, courts, commissions and government departments can subscribe on institutional terms, with billing to suit.

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