• List of CPIOs and Appellate Authority(Size: 746 KB, Format: PDF, Language: English)

The following information is exempt from disclosure under Section 8 of the RTI Act.

• Information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence;
• Information which has been expressly forbidden to be published by any court of law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court;
• Information, the disclosure of which would cause of breach of privilege of Parliament or the State Legislature;
• Information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information;
• Information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information;
• Information received in confidence from foreign Government;
• Information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes;
• Information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders;
• Cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers;
• Information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual;

• Only that part of the record which does not contain any information which is exempt from disclosure and which can reasonably be served from any part that contains exempt information, may be provided.
• Third parties have a right to be heard in respect of applications and appeals dealing with information submitted by them to the Government in confidence.
• PIO may reject a request for information where such a request for providing access would involve an infringement of copyright subsisting in a person other than the State.

Duties of PIO

• PIO shall deal with requests from persons seeking information and where the request cannot be made in writing, to render reasonable assistance to the person to reduce the same in writing.
• If the information requested for is held by or its subject matter is closely connected with the function of another public authority, the PIO shall transfer, within 5 days, the request to that public authority and inform the applicant immediately.
• Where the information requested for concerns the life or liberty of a person, the same shall be provided within forty eight hours of the receipt of the request.
• Where a request has been rejected, the PIO shall communicate to the requester :
  • the reasons for such rejection
  • the period within which an appeal against such rejection may be preferred, and
  • the particulars of the Appellate Authority.

• Guide for the First Appellate Authorities (Size: 39.3 KB, Format: PDF, Language: English)
• Guide for the Public Authorities (Size: 38.6 KB, Format: PDF, Language: English)
• Central Information Commission