Right to Information Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as RTI Act) is enacted to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
According to Section 2(h) of RTI Act, public authority means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted:
by or under the Constitution;
by any other law made by Parliament;
by any other law made by State Legislature;
by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any—
body owned, controlled or substantially financed;
non-Government organisation substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government.
According to Section 2(j) of RTI Act, right to information means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to:
inspection of work, documents, records;
taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records;
taking certified samples of material;
obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device;
According to Section 3 of RTI Act, subject to the provisions of this Act, all citizens shall have the right to information.
Thus, the citizens of India are entitled to obtain the information as their right only from the public authority as defined in Section 2(h) of the RTI Act.
