3. Freedom of information.-Subject to the provisions of this Act, all citizens
shall have freedom of information.
4. Obligations on public authorities.-Every public authority shall-
(a) maintain all its records, in such manner and form as is consistent with
its operational requirements duly catalogued and indexed;
(b) publish at such intervals as may be prescribed by the appropriate
Government or competent authority,
(i) the particulars of its organisation, functions and duties;
(ii) the powers and duties of its officers and employees and the
procedure followed by them in the decision-making process;
(iii) the norms set by the public authority for the discharge of its functions;
54 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AСТ, 2002 [S. 5
(iv) rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and other categories of
records under its control used by its employees for discharging
its functions;
(v) the details of facilities available to citizens for obtaining
information; and
(vi) the name, designation and other particulars of the Public
Information Officer;
(c) publish all relevant facts concerning important decisions and policies
that affect the public while announcing such decisions and policies;
(d) give reasons for its decisions, whether administrative or quasi-judicial
to those affected by such decisions;
(e) before initiating any project, publish or communicate to the public
generally or to the persons affected or likely to be affected by the project
in particular, the facts available to it or to which it has reasonable access
which in its opinion should be known to them in the best interests of
natural justice and promotion of democratic principles.
5. Appointment of Public Information Officers.-(1) Every public authority
shall for the purposes of this Act, appoint one or more officers as Public Information
Officers.
(2) Every Public Information Officer shall deal with requests for information
and shall render reasonable assistance to any person seeking such information.
(3) The Public Information Officer may seek the assistance of anyother officer
as he considers necessary for the proper discharge of his duties.
(4) Any officer whose assistance has been sought under sub-section (3), shall
render all assistance to the Public Information Officer seeking his assistance.
6. Request for obtaining information.-A person desirous of obtaining
information shall make a request in writing or through electronic means, to the
concerned Public Information Officer specifying the particulars of the information
sought by him:
Provided that where such request cannot be made in writing, the Public
Information Officer shall render all reasonable assistance to the person making the
request orally to reduce it in writing.
7. Disposal of requests.-(1) On receipt of a request under Section 6, the
Public Information Officer shall, as expeditiously as possible, and in any case
within thirty days of the receipt of the request, either provide the information
requested on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any
of the reasons specified in Sections 8 and 9:
Provided that where the information sought for concerns the life and liberty
of a person, the same should be provided within forty-eight hours of the receipt
of the request:
Provided further that where it is decided to provide the information on payment
of any further fees representing the cost of providing the information, he shall
S. 8] FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, 2002 55
send an intimation to the person making the request, giving the details of the fees
determined by him, requesting him to deposit the fees and the period intervening
between the despatch of the said intimation and payment of fees shall be excluded
for the purpose of calculating the period of thirty days referred to above.
(2) Before taking any decision under sub-section (1), the Public Information
Officer shall take into consideration the representation made by a third party under
Section 11.
(3) Where a request is rejected under sub-section (2), the Public Information
Officer shall communicate to the person making request,-
(i) the reasons for such rejection;
(ii) the period within which an appeal against such rejections may be
preferred;
(iii) the particulars of the appellate authority.
(4) Information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought
unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or
would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question.
8. Exemption from disclosure of information.-(1) Notwithstanding
anything hereinbefore contained, the following information not being information
relating to any matter referred to in sub-section (2), shall be exempted from
disclosure, namely:—
(a) information, the disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the
sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the State, strategic,
scientific or economic interest of India or conduct of international
relations;
(b) information, the disclosure of which would prejudicially affect public
safety and order, detection and investigation of an offence or which may
lead to an incitement to commit an offence or prejudicially affect fair
trial or adjudication of a pending case;
(c) information, the disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the
conduct of Centre-State relations, including information exchanged in confidence between the Central and State Governments or any of their authorities or agencies;
(d) Cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers;
(e) minutes or records of advice including legal advice, opinions or recommendations made by any officer of a public authority during
formulation;
the decision-making process prior to the executive decision or policy
(f)
disclosure
trade or commercial secrets protected by law or information, the of which would prejudicially affect the legitimate economic
authority;
and commercial interests or the competitive position of a public or would cause unfair gain or loss to any person; and
56
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AСТ, 2002 (g)
[S. 9 information,
privileges of
Parliament
the disclosure
or the
of
which may result in the breach of of a lawful order of a Legislature of a State, or contravention court.
relating
(2)
Subject to the provisions of clause (a) of sub-section (1), any information to any occurrence, event or matter which has taken place occurred or happened twenty-five years before the date on which any request is made under Section 6 shall be provided to any person making a request under that section: Provided that where any question arises as to the date from which the said period Government of twenty-five years has to be computed, the decision of the Central shall be final.
9. Grounds for refusal to access in certain cases.-Without prejudice to the provisions of Section 8, a Public Information Officer may reject a request for information also where such request-
(a) is too general in nature or is of such a nature that, having regard to
the volume of information required to be retrieved or processed would
involve unreasonable diversion of the resources of a public authority or
would adversely interfere with the functioning of such authority:
Provided that where such request is rejected on the ground that the
request is too general, it would be the duty of the Public Information
Officer to render help as far as possible to the person making request to
reframe his request in such a manner as may facilitate compliance with it;
(b) relates to information that is required by law, rules, regulations or orders
to be published at a particular time and such information is likely to be
so published within thirty days of the receipt of such request;
(c) relates to information that is contained in published material available
to public; or
(d) relates to information which would cause unwarranted invasion of the
privacy of any person.
10. Severability.-(1) If a request for access to information is rejected on the
ground that it is in relation to information which is exempted from disclosure, then
notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, access may be given to that part of
the record which does not obtain any information that is exempted from disclosure
under this Act and which can reasonably be severed from any part that contains
exempted information.
(2) Where access is granted to a part of the record in accordance with
sub-section (1), the person making the request shall be informed,-
(a) that only part of the record requested, after severance of the record
containing information which is exempted from disclosure, is being
furnished; and
(b) of the provisions of the Act under which the severed part is exempted
from disclosure.
11. Third party information.-(1) Where a public authority intends to
disclose any information or record, or part thereof, on a request made under this
S. 12] FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, 2002 57
Act which relates to, or has been supplied by a third party and has been treated as
confidential by that third party, the Public Information Officer shall, within twentyfive days from the receipt ofarequest, give written notice to such third party of the
request and of the fact that the public authority intends to disclose the information
or record, or part thereof:
Provided that except in the case of trade or commercial secrets protected by
law, disclosure may be allowed if the public interest in disclosure outweighs in
importance any possible harm or injury to the interests of such third party.
(2) Where a notice is given by the Public Information Officer under
sub-section (1) to a third party in respect of any information or record or part
thereof, the third party shall, within twenty days from the date of issuance of notice,
be given the opportunity to make representation against the proposed disclosure.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in Section 7, the Public Information
Officer shall, within sixty days after receipt of the request under Section 6,
if the third party has been given an opportunity to make representation under
sub-section (2), make a decision as to whether or not to disclose the information or
record or part thereof and give in writing the notice of his decision to the third party.
(4) A notice given under sub-section (3) shall include a statement that the third
party to whom the notice is given is entitled to prefer an appeal against the decision
under Section 12.
12. Appeals.-(1) Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Public
Information Officer may, within thirty days of receipt of such decision, prefer an
appeal to such authority as may be prescribed:
Provided that such authority may entertain the appeal after the expiry of the
said period of thirty days if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by
sufficient cause from filing the appeal in time.
(2) A second appeal against the decision under sub-section (1) shall lie within
thirty days of such decision, to the Central Government or the State Government
or the competent authority, as the case may be:
Provided that the Central Government or the State Government or the
competent authority, as the case may be, may entertain the appeal after the expiry
of the said period of thirty days if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the appeal in time.
(3) The appeals referred to in sub-sections (1) and (2) shall be disposed of
within thirty days of the receipt of such appeals or within such extended period, as the case may be, for reasons to be recorded in writing.
(4) If the decision of the Public Information Officer against which the appeal is preferred under sub-section (1) or (2) also relates to information of third party, the appellate authority shall give a reasonable opportunity of being heard to that third party.