The Supreme Court on Thursday launched its online portal for e-filing Right to Information (RTI) applications and first appeals. The online portral has been created for people to access information about the Apex Court more conveniently.
This is the first time that the RTI feature is available in the Supreme Court. Thus, the Court, which stands for justice and protects the Constitution, is now a transparent entity under RTI norms.
Earlier this month, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Justice DY Chandrachud disclosed, while hearing a public information litigation, about the work going on to set up the RTI portal.
The Apex Court has also put out the guideline for using the online portal. It can be used only by Indian citizens to file applications, first appeal, and make payments for fees, copying charges, and others under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Applicants have to pay a fee of Rs 10 per application, however, applicants under the Below Poverty Line are excluded and do have not to pay the requisite application fee under the RTI Rules, 2012. The fees can only be paid through internet banking, debit/credit card of Master/Visa, or UPI.
If an applicant does not receive the registration number even after making the payment, it is advised to wait for 24-48 working hours as the registration number will be generated after reconciliation. Applications shall not retry or make another attempt to make the payment again.
Applicants have to fill in the credentials on the page that will appear after clicking the ‘Submit’ button fields marked with red colour asterix are mandatory while others are optional. It should also be noted that only PDF documents of any supporting document/annexures can be attached in ‘Supporting Document’ only within the specified file size.
The application filed through the web portal will reach digitally to the Central Public Information Office of the Supreme Court and First Appellate Authority of the Apex Court according to the case filed.
It should also be noted that applicants from public authorities, other than Supreme Court, are advised to make RTI applications to the concerned Public Authorities through the respective Central/State Government Portal.
For detailed information about the guidelines to use the online RTI portal of the Supreme Court of India, click here.