The Right to Information Act, 2005

The RTI Act section by section for a school head who is also the Public Information Officer.

Where candidates lose marks on this

1. Treating Section 8(1)(j) as if it still contains the "larger public interest" test. It does not, since November 2025. The current text is a bare exemption for "information which relates to personal information."
2. Assuming the Supreme Court has settled the DPDP-RTI question one way or the other. It has not, as of today — notice issued, stay declined, referred to a larger Bench, still pending.
3. Citing the Delhi High Court's August 2025 educational-records ruling as an application of the current Section 8(1)(j). It was decided under the old text, roughly three months before the substitution took effect.
4. Confusing Section 18 (complaint) with Section 19 (appeal). Different filing rules, different time limits, different powers — see Part I.3's comparison table.
5. Sending a second appeal within 30 days, or a first appeal within 90. The numbers are 30 for the first appeal and 90 for the second — swapping them is the single most common timeline error.
6. Assuming a State Information Commissioner is removed after an inquiry by that State's High Court. It is always the Supreme Court, for both Central and State Commissioners alike.
7. Believing the term of a Chief Information Commissioner is still 5 years. It is 3 years, fixed by the RTI Rules, 2019, since the RTI (Amendment) Act, 2019 removed the fixed term from the Act itself.
8. Confusing Section 8 (mandatory exemption — "no obligation to give") with Section 9 (discretionary rejection — copyright only, "may reject").
9. Forgetting that the extra 5 days under Section 5(2)'s proviso applies only when the application is routed through an Assistant PIO — not to every application by default.
10. Assuming the Section 20 penalty is automatic, unlimited, or imposed without a hearing. It requires a hearing, is capped at ₹25,000, and places the burden of proving reasonable and diligent conduct on the PIO.

Where this is taught

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