How-To Guide · Transparency · RTI

How to Complain to the Information Commission (2026)

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

The Right to Information Act 2005 gives you two very different ways to take a failed RTI to the Information Commission: an appeal, and a complaint. People mix them up, and the mix-up matters, because they do different things. A complaint under Section 18 lets the Commission inquire into misconduct and penalise an officer. An appeal is the route that can actually order the information to be handed over. This guide is about the complaint route. It explains when a Section 18 complaint is the right choice, the grounds you can rely on, how to file it to the Central or State Information Commission, what the Commission can do, and the one limit you must understand before you choose it. Last verified October 2026.

01Complaint or appeal: choose first

Before you write anything, be clear about what you want, because that decides the route.

Both go to the same Commission, but a Section 18 complaint is about the Commission inquiring into a failure and, where justified, penalising the officer. The Section 19 second appeal is the route that can direct the authority to disclose the records. If your real aim is the information, the appeal is usually the stronger path, and the full appeal ladder is set out in how to file an RTI first and second appeal. This guide covers the complaint.

02When a Section 18 complaint fits

Section 18 of the RTI Act 2005 lets you complain directly to the Information Commission in defined situations. You can complain if:

• No officer to receive your request. The public authority did not appoint a Public Information Officer, or no one was available to take your application.
• Your request was refused, including a refusal to accept the application.
• No response came in time, within the periods the Act allows.
• An unreasonable fee was demanded that you think is excessive.
• You were given information that is incomplete, false or misleading.
• Any other matter relating to getting information under the Act.

A complaint is well suited to a situation where the wrong is the conduct of the authority or officer, such as a stonewalling PIO or a system with no officer at all, rather than a straightforward refusal you simply want overturned so you get the file.

03Which Commission to complain to

There are two levels of Commission, and you complain to the one that matches the public authority:

• Central Information Commission (CIC) for a central government public authority, such as a central ministry, a central public sector body or a central regulator.
• State Information Commission (SIC) for a State public authority, such as a State department, a municipal body or a State university.

Complain to the Central Information Commission for a central authority, and to your State Information Commission for a State authority. Sending it to the wrong level only loses time.

Sending a complaint to the wrong Commission wastes weeks, so check which government the public authority belongs to before you file.

04How to file the complaint

There is no single mandatory national form for a Section 18 complaint, but most Commissions publish a format and expect it. A good complaint carries:

• Your details and the public authority complained against, with the PIO named if known.
• The facts in date order: when you filed the RTI, what happened, and which Section 18 ground applies.
• What you want the Commission to do, such as inquire into the failure and penalise the officer.
• Enclosures: a copy of your RTI application, any reply or order, the fee receipt, and proof of the failure.

File it with the relevant Commission by its prescribed mode. The Central Information Commission accepts complaints, and many RTI matters with central bodies can be filed online. There is generally no fee for a complaint before the Commission, and you do not need a lawyer to file one. Check your own Commission's website for its exact format and online filing.

05What the Commission can do

When a complaint discloses reasonable grounds, the Commission can inquire into it, and Section 18(3) gives it the powers of a civil court for that inquiry: it can summon and examine people on oath, require documents, and receive evidence. The authority has to cooperate.

If the inquiry shows that a Public Information Officer, without reasonable cause, refused a request, delayed it, gave wrong or incomplete information, or obstructed access, the Commission can impose a penalty under Section 20 of Rs 250 per day of delay, up to a maximum of Rs 25,000, and can recommend disciplinary action against the officer. This penalty power is the real teeth of the complaint route.

06The one limit to understand

Here is the honest limit you must weigh. A Section 18 complaint lets the Commission inquire and penalise, but it is generally not the route to force disclosure of the information. Courts and Commissions have drawn this line: if what you want is the records in your hands, the second appeal under Section 19 is the provision that lets the Commission direct the authority to give them to you.

So choose with your goal in mind. If you want the file, go the appeal route, and only use a complaint where the problem is misconduct you want inquired into and punished, or where there was no proper officer or process to appeal through in the first place. In many cases the two are used together, but do not rely on a complaint alone to get the documents. The step-by-step appeal route, with its deadlines, is in how to file an RTI first and second appeal.

07Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

An RTI dispute that starts as a complaint can end up before the Information Commission and then in a High Court writ, and how it goes often depends on how comparable refusals, exemptions and penalties have been treated before. Claw tracks the resulting Information Commission appeals and any writ across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, with alerts when a new order is passed or a hearing is listed, so you can follow an RTI matter by party or advocate name and never miss a date. You can also search 30 crore+ judgments, with Supreme Court decisions from 1950 and High Court decisions from 1990, returning results in under 5 seconds, to see how Sections 8, 18, 19 and 20 of the RTI Act have been applied. Use a case search across Indian courts by party name to research the field. Claw does not use your searches or documents to train its AI models. A clean search means nothing was found on the forums covered on the date searched under the names you used, and this is general information, not legal advice.

08Sources and further reading

• Central Information Commission (complaints, decisions and guidance): cic.gov.in
• RTI Online (file RTI and related matters with central bodies): rtionline.gov.in
• India Code (Right to Information Act 2005, Sections 18, 19 and 20): indiacode.nic.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Complaint formats and online filing differ between the Central Commission and the States, so check your own Commission's rules before you file.

09Frequently asked questions