As a stepping stone to improve transparency in governance the Centre extended the facility of e-filing of RTI applications to ministries of Home affairs and Agriculture. Where as, presently the facility was restricted to the Department of Personnal and Training (DoPT).
The DoPT is a nodal ministry for implementing Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. It launched an online portal named, www.rtionline.gov.in, to facilitate e-filing of applications and payment of fees.
The DoPT said, "This facility is being extended to Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries and Department of Consumer Affairs and Department of Food and Public Distribution from May 22, 2013."
"The Right to Information Act, enacted in 2005, mandates timely response, within 30 days, to citizen requests for government information, with a nominal fee of Rs 10 for seeking information."
The portal was developed by NIC and provides facility for Indian citizens to online file RTI applications and first appeals and also to make payment of fees for seeking information. The prescribed fees can be paid through various wired modes such as Internet banking of State Bank of India and its associate banks as well as by credit or debit cards of Visa or Master, through the payment gateway of SBI linked to this site.
While filing the application online an applicant can enter the text of his application at the prescribed column and the column is limited to 500 words only. In case, an application contains more than 500 words, then it can be uploaded as an attachment.
After this initial pilot project the central government is planning to extend e-filing of RTI applications to all central ministries or departments through the website. But, it will not be extended for field offices, attached or subordinate offices.
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