Step 3. - To whom should an applicant file the RTI application?
Ordinarily, an information seeker knows where the required information is available and the application should be filed to the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the concerned office. As the RTI Act requires that the applicant should address the application to the PIO of the ‘concerned public authority’, the applicant should try to locate the concerned organisation and file an application. In cases where the applicant is not sure who the public authority is, some effort may be required to find the concerned public authority.
If the information is available with more than one public authority, separate applications should be filed with the different PIOs.
In case the application is submitted to a PIO with whom the information is not available but the information is available with another PIO within the same Public Authority, he is duty bound to get the same from the concerned PIO in the public authority and supply the same to the applicant. If the information pertains to some other public authority, the PIO is required to transfer the application to such public authority within five days of the receipt of the application under intimation to the applicant.
A dated acknowledgement should be obtained from the receipt counter of the public authority. If it is sent by post, the proof of sending by post should be retained.