FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2002

THE FREEDOM OFINFORMATION ACT, 2002

[Act No. 5 OF 2003]

6th January, 2003

An Act to provide for freedom to every citizen tosecure access to information under the control of public authorities,consistent with public interest, in order to promote openness, transparency andaccountability in administration and in relation to matters connected therewithor incidental thereto.

BE itenacted by Parliament in the Fifty-third Year of the Republic of India asfollows:-

CHAPTER I

PRELIMINARY

1. Short title, extent and commencement.

 

(1) This Act may be called the Freedom of Information Act, 2002.

 

(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

 

(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Governmentmay, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

2. Definitions.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-

 

(a) "appropriateGovernment" means in relation to a publicauthority established,constituted, owned, substantiallyfinanced by funds provided directly or indirectly orcontrolled-

 

(i) by the CentralGovernment, the Central Government;

(ii) by the StateGovernment, the State Government;

(iii) by the Unionterritory, the Central Government;

 

(b) "competentauthority" means-

 

(i) the Speakerin the case of the House of thePeople or the Legislative Assemblyand the Chairman in the case of the Council of States or the Legislative Council;

(ii) the Chief Justiceof India in the case of the Supreme Court;

(iii) the Chief Justice ofthe High Court in the case of a High Court;

(iv) the President orthe Governor, as the case may be, in the case of other authorities created byor under the Constitution;

(v) the administratorappointed under article 239 of the Constitution;

(c) "freedom of information" means the right to obtaininformation from any public authority by means of,-

 

(i) inspection, takingof extracts and notes;

(ii) certified copiesof any records of such public authority;

(iii) diskettes,floppies or in any other electronic mode orthrough print-outs wheresuch information is stored in a computer or in any other device;

 

 

(d) "information" meansany material in any formrelating to the administration, operations or decisionsof a public authority;

 

(e) "prescribed"means prescribed by rules made under this Act by the appropriate Government orthe competent authority, as the case may be;

 

(f) "public authority" means any authority or body establishedor constituted,-

 

(i) by or under theConstitution;

(ii) by any law made by theappropriate Government, andincludes any otherbody owned, controlledor substantially financed by funds provided directly or indirectly bythe appropriate Government;

 

(g) "Public InformationOfficer" means the Public Information Officer appointed under sub-section(1) of section 5;

 

(h) "record"includes-

 

(i) any document, manuscriptand file;

(ii) any microfilm, microficheand facsimile copy of a document;

(iii) any reproduction of imageor images embodied in such microfilm(whether enlarged or not); and

(iv) any other materialproduced by a computer or by any other device;

 

(i) "third party"means a person other thanthe person makinga request for information and includes a public authority.

 

CHAPTER II

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND OBLIGATIONS OF PUBLIC AUTHORITIES

3. Freedom of information.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, all citizens shall have freedomof information.

4. Obligations on publicauthorities

Every public authority shall-

 

(a) maintain all itsrecords, in such manner and form as is consistent with its operationalrequirements duly catalogued and indexed;

 

(b) publish at suchintervals as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government or competentauthority,-

 

(i) the particulars ofits organisation, functions and duties;

(ii) the powersand duties of its officers andemployees and the procedure followed by them in thedecision making process;

(iii) the norms set bythe public authority for the discharge ofits functions;

(iv) rules, regulations,instructions, manuals and other categories of records underits control used by its employees for discharging its functions;

(v) the detailsof facilities available to citizensfor obtaining information; and

(vi) the name,designation and other particularsof the Public Information Officer;

 

(c) publish allrelevant facts concerning importantdecisions and policies thataffect the public while announcing such decisions and policies;

 

(d) give reasonsfor its decisions,whether administrative or quasi-judicial to those affected by suchdecisions;

 

(e) before initiatingany project, publish orcommunicate to the publicgenerally or to the persons affected or likely to be affected by the project in particular, thefacts available to it or to which it hasreasonable access which in its opinion should be known to them inthe bestinterests of natural justice andpromotion of democratic principles.

5. Appointment of Public Information Officers.

(1) Every public authority shallfor the purposes of this Act,appoint one or more officers as Public Information Officers.

 

(2) Every PublicInformation Officer shall deal withrequests for information andshall render reasonableassistance to any person seeking such information.

 

(3) The PublicInformation Officer may seek the assistance of anyother officer as he considers necessary for the properdischarge of his duties.

 

(4) Any officer whose assistance has been sought undersub-section (3), shall render all assistance to the Public InformationOfficer seeking his assistance.

6. Request for obtaining information.

A person desirous of obtaining information shallmake a request in writing or throughelectronic means, to the concernedPublic Information Officerspecifying the particulars of theinformation sought by him:

 

Provided that wheresuch request cannot be made in writing, the Public Information Officer shallrender all reasonable assistance to the person making the request orally toreduce it in writing.

7. Disposal of requests.

(1) On receipt of a request under section 6, the PublicInformation Officer shall, as expeditiously as possible, andin any case within thirty days of the receiptof therequest, either provide the information requested on payment of such feeas may be prescribed or reject therequest for any of the reasons specifiedin sections 8 and 9:

 

Provided that where the information sought for concernsthe life and liberty of aperson, the same should be provided withinforty-eight hours of the receipt of the request:

 

Provided further that where it is decided to providethe information on payment of any further fee representing thecost of providing the information, heshall send an intimation to theperson making the request,giving the details of the fees determined by him, requesting him todeposit the fees and theperiod intervening betweenthe despatch of the saidintimation and payment of fees shall be excluded for the purpose of calculating the period ofthirty days referred to above.

 

(2) Before takingany decision under sub-section(1), the Public Information Officer shall take into considerationthe representation made by a third partyunder section 11.

 

(3) Where arequest is rejected under sub-section (2), the Public

Information Officer shall communicate to the person making request,-

 

(i) the reasons forsuch rejection;

(ii) the period withinwhich an appeal against such rejections may be preferred;

(iii) the particulars ofthe appellate authority.

 

(4) Information shallordinarily be provided in the form in whichit is sought unless it woulddisproportionately divert the resourcesof the public authorityor would be detrimental tothe safety or preservation of the record in question.

 

8. Exemption from disclosureof information.

(1) Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, the followinginformation 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 wouldprejudicially affect the sovereigntyand integrity of India,security of theState, strategic scientific oreconomic interest of India or conductof international relations;

(b) information, the disclosure of which wouldprejudicially affect public safety and order, detection and investigationof an offence or which may lead to anincitement to commit an offence or prejudicially affect fair trial oradjudication of a pending case;

(c) information, the disclosure of which wouldprejudicially affect the conduct ofCentre-State relations, including information exchanged in confidencebetween the Central and StateGovernments or any of their authorities or agencies;

(d) Cabinet papers includingrecords of deliberations of the Councilof Ministers, Secretaries and other officers;

(e) minutes or records ofadvice including legal advice, opinionsor recommendations made by anyofficer of a public authority during thedecision making processprior to the executive decisionor policy formulation;

(f) trade or commercialsecrets protected by law or information,the disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the legitimateeconomic and commercial interestsor the competitive positionof a public authority; or would cause unfair gain or loss to anyperson; and

(g) information, thedisclosure of which may result in the breachof privileges of Parliamentor the Legislatureof a State,or contravention of a lawful order of a court.

(2) Subject to the provisions of clause (a) ofsub-section (1), any information relatingto any occurrence, event ormatter which has takenplace occurred or happened twenty-five years before the date onwhich any request is made under section 6 shall beprovided to any person making a request under thatsection:

 

Provided that where any question arises as to the datefrom which the said period oftwenty-five years has to be computed, the decision of the Central Government shall be final.

9. Grounds for refusal toaccess in certain cases.

Without prejudice to the provisions of section 8, a Public InformationOfficer may reject a request for information also where such request-

 

(a) is toogeneral in nature or is of such anature that, having regardto the volumeof information required to be retrievedor processed would involveunreasonable diversion of the resources ofa public authority or wouldadversely interfere with the functioning of such authority:

 

Provided that wheresuch request is rejected on the ground thatthe request is too general, it would be the duty of the PublicInformation Officer to render help as far as possible to the person making requestto reframe his request in such a manner as ayfacilitate compliance with it;

 

(b) relates to informationthat is required by law, rules, regulations or orders to be published at aparticular time and such information is likelyto be so published within thirtydays of the receipt of such request;

(c) relates to information that is contained in publishedmaterial available to public; or

(d) relates to informationwhich would cause unwarranted invasionof the privacy of any person.

10. Severability.

(1) If a request for access toinformation is rejected on the ground that it is in relation toinformation which is exempted fromdisclosure, then notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, access may be given to that partof the record which does not obtain any information that is exempted fromdisclosure under this Act and which canreasonably be severed fromany partthat contains exemptedinformation.

 

(2) Where access is granted to a part of the record in accordance withsub-section (1), the person making the request shall be informed,-

 

(a) that only part of the record requested, afterseverance of the recordcontaining information which isexempted from disclosure, is beingfurnished; and

(b) of theprovisions of the Act under which thesevered part is exempted from disclosure.

 

11. Third party information.

(1) Where a public authority intends to disclose any information orrecord, or part thereof, on a request made under this Act which relates to, orhas been supplied by a third party andhas been treated as confidential by that third party, the Public Information Officer shall, withintwenty-five days from the receipt of arequest, give written notice to such third party of the request andof thefact that thepublic authority intends todisclose the information orrecord, or part thereof:

 

Provided thatexcept in the case of trade orcommercial secrets protected by law, disclosure may be allowed if thepublic interest in disclosure outweighsin importance any possible harm or injury to the interests of such third party.

 

(2) Where a notice is given by the Public InformationOfficer under sub-section (1)to a third party in respect ofany information or record or part thereof, the third partyshall, within twenty days from thedate of issuance of notice, be given theopportunity to make representation against the proposeddisclosure.

 

(3) Notwithstanding anythingcontained in section 7,the Public Information Officershall, within sixty days afterreceipt of the requestunder section 6,if the third party hasbeen given an opportunity tomake representation undersub-section (2), make adecision as to whether or not to disclose the information or record orpart thereof and give in writing the notice of hisdecision to the third party.

 

(4) A notice given under sub-section (3) shallinclude a statement that the third party to whom thenotice is given is entitled to prefer an appeal against the decision undersection 12.

12. Appeals.

(1) Any person aggrieved by adecision of the Public Information Officermay, within thirty daysof receipt ofsuch decision, prefer an appeal to such authority as may be prescribed:

 

Provided that such authoritymay entertain the appeal after the expiry ofthe said periodof thirty days if it issatisfied that the appellantwas prevented by sufficient cause from filing the appeal in time.

 

(2) A second appeal against thedecision under sub-section (1) shalllie 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 theCentral Government or the State Government orthe competent authority, as thecase may be, may entertain the appeal afterthe expiry of the said period of thirty days if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficientcause from filing the appeal in time.

 

(3) The appealsreferred to in sub-sections (1) and(2) shall be disposedof within thirty days of the receipt of suchappeals or within suchextended period, as the case may be, for reasons to berecorded in writing.

 

(4) If the decision of the Public InformationOfficer against which the appeal is preferred under sub-section (1) orsub-section (2) also relates toinformation of third party, the appellate authority shall give a reasonable opportunity of beingheard t that party.

CHAPTER III

MISCELLANEOUS

13. Protection of action takenin good faith.

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against anyperson for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done underthis Act or any rule made thereunder.

14. Act to have overridingeffect.

The provisions of this Actshall have effect notwithstandinganything inconsistent therewith contained inthe Official Secrets Act, 1923 (19 of 1923), and any other law for thetime being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any lawother than this Act.

15. Bar of jurisdiction ofcourts.

No court shall entertain any suit, application orother proceeding in respect of any ordermade under this Act and no such order shall be called inquestion otherwise than by way of an appeal under this Act.

16. Act not to apply tocertain organizations.

(1) Nothing contained inthis Act shallapply to theintelligence and security organisations, specifiedin the Schedule,being organizations established by the Central Government or any informationfurnished by such organisations to that Government.

 

(2) The CentralGovernment may, bynotification in theOfficial

Gazette, amend theSchedule by includingtherein any other intelligence or security organisation established bythat Government or omitting therefrom any organisation alreadyspecified there and on thepublication of such notification, such organisation shall be deemedto be included in or, as the case may be,omitted from the

Schedule.

 

(3) Every notificationissued under sub-section (2) shallbe laid before each House ofParliament.

 

(4) Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to such intelligence andsecurity organisations which may be specified, by anotification in the Official Gazette, bya State Government from time to time.

 

(5) Every notificationissued under sub-section (4) shallbe laid before the StateLegislature.

17. Power tomake rules by Central Government.

(1) The Central Government may, by notification inthe Official Gazette, make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act.

 

(2) In particular,and without prejudice to the generalityof the foregoing power,such rules mayprovide for all or anyof the following matters,namely:-

 

(a) intervals at whichmatters referred to in sub-clauses (i) to (vi) of clause (b) of section 4 shallbe published;

(b) the fee payable undersub-section (1) of section 7;

(c) the authoritybefore whom an appeal may be preferredunder sub-section (1) of section 12;

(d) any other matter whichis required to be, or may be, prescribed.

 

18. Power to make rules byState Government.

(1) The State Government may,by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules to carry out theprovisions of this Act.

 

(2) In particular,and without prejudice to the generalityof the foregoing power,such rules mayprovide for all or anyof the following matters,namely:-

 

(a) the fee payable undersub-section (1) of section 7;

(b) the authoritybefore whom an appeal maybe preferred under sub-section (1) of section 12;

(c) any other matter whichis required to be, or may be, prescribed:

Provided thatinitially the rules shall be madeby the Central Government by notification in theOfficial Gazette.

19. Rule makingpower by competent authority.

(1) The competent authority may, by notification in the Official Gazette,make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act.

 

(2) In particular,and without prejudice to the generalityof the foregoing power,such rules mayprovide for all or anyof the following matters,namely:-

 

(a) the fee payable undersub-section (1) of section 7;

(b) the authoritybefore whom an appeal may be preferredunder sub-section (1) of section 12;

(c) any other matter whichis required to be, or may be, prescribed.

 

20. Laying of rules.

(1) Every rule made by the CentralGovernment under this Actshall be laid, as soon as may be after it ismade, before each House ofParliament, while it is in session, for atotal period of thirty days whichmay be comprised in one session or intwo or more successive sessions,and if, before the expiry of the session immediately followingthe session orthe successive sessions aforesaid, both Houses agree inmaking any modification in the rule or bothHouses agree that the rule shouldnot be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or beof no effect, as the casemay be; so, however, that any suchmodification or annulment shallbe without prejudice to the validityof anything previously done underthat rule.

 

(2) Every rulemade under this Act by a State Government shallbe laid, as soonas may be after it is notified,before the State Legislature.

21. Power to remove difficulties.

(1) If any difficulty arises ingiving effect to the provisions of this Act, theCentral Government may, by order published in the Official Gazette,make such provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act as appearto it to be necessary or expedientfor removal ofthe difficulty:

Provided that no such ordershall be made after the expiry of a period of two years from the date of thecommencement of this Act.

 

(2) Every order made under this section shall, as soon as may be afterit is made, be laid before each House of Parliament.

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