When the PIO refuses your RTI application, they have to tell you:
If the PIO has not replied with information or has refused to give you the information unlawfully, you can appeal to an officer senior in rank to the PIO or file a complaint with the Central or State Information Commission.
No child can be denied admission to a school1, irrespective of the time in the academic year in which admission is sought. Ideally, all children should be enrolled in school at the beginning of the academic session. However, schools may need to be flexible to allow admission at any time during the session.
Children admitted after six months of the beginning of the academic session may be provided Special Training as determined by the Head Teacher of the school to enable him/her to complete studies.2 Special Training ensures that out-of-school children are integrated into the school system. Such support will be in the form of residential or nonresidential courses, as needed and such children will continue even beyond 14 years of age to complete elementary education
No child can be subjected to physical punishment or mental harassment at the hands of the school authorities. Physical harassment includes causing physical harm to children by hitting, pulling their hair, slapping, hitting with any object (ruler, chalk) etc. Mental harassment includes mocking the child with regard to his/her background, caste, parental occupation or shaming the child to improve their performance. Individuals may be subjected to disciplinary action under the service rules applicable to them upon subjecting the child to the same.3
No child can be expelled from school until they have completed their elementary education.4
The rights guaranteed under Article 19(1) are not completely free from restraint. Each right is subject to a different set of reasonable restrictions. These reasonable restrictions are listed under clauses (2) to (6) of Article 19 [Article 19(2) – Article 19(6)].
| Fundamental right under Article 19 | Grounds for corresponding restrictions |
| Freedom of speech and expression | Article 19(2)
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| Freedom to assemble peaceably and without arms | Article 19(3)
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| Freedom to form associations or unions | Article 19(4)
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| Freedom to move freely throughout the territory of India | Article 19(5)
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| Freedom to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India | Article 19(5)
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| Freedom to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business | Article 19(6)
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The law designates certain areas as tribal areas or scheduled areas. If any person is likely to commit crimes or atrocities against members of SCs and STs in such areas, the Special Courts can have them removed from there.
However, the Special Court must list down the grounds for taking such an action against anybody.1
Period of Removal Order
The order of removal can be made for a period up to 3 years. The person against whom such an order is made can request the Special Court to modify or revoke the removal order within 30 days of the passing of the order.
Disobeying Removal Order
If the person against whom a removal order is passed either fails to remove himself from the area or after being removed returns to the area without proper permission, the Special Court can have him arrested and removed to police custody outside the specified area.2 The penalty for disobeying the removal order is imprisonment up to 1 year and a fine.3
Special Permission to Enter Specified Area
The person who has been removed from the area can apply to the Special Court to enter that place for a limited period of time. If they are granted such permission, it will be conditional. The Court can even ask the person to execute a bond (with or without surety) to ensure the conditions mentioned in the permission are followed.
The Special Court has the power to revoke this permission at any time. If the permission has expired or been revoked, fresh permission needs to be taken for re-entry.
If any of the conditions of the permission are violated, the person can be arrested by the police and be taken to the police station outside the tribal or scheduled area.
The Central or State Information Commission can impose a daily penalty of Rs. 250 on the PIO who has withheld information or provided wrong information. This has to be paid until the information is provided. However, the total amount of the penalty should not exceed Rs. 25,000.
The PIO has to be given a chance to present their case before the penalty is decided – however, the burden is on them to prove that they acted lawfully. Disciplinary action can also be taken against the PIO in accordance with their service rules.
Each state government has specified various academic authorities that have laid down the curriculum and evaluation procedures. These could be the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) or other academic institutions of the state. For example, the Delhi SCERT and the Uttarakhand SCERT are responsible for the curriculum in their respective states. The state curriculums must, however, be prepared according to certain common principles:1
The state curriculums and evaluation procedures must include a comprehensive and continuous evaluation of the child’s understanding of knowledge.
If a state action completely prohibits an Article 19 right, the court should test the constitutional validity of that action based on the facts and circumstances of the case. In some cases, a total prohibition may be a reasonable restriction, while in others it may not.1 For instance, a complete ban on carrying out dangerous trades or businesses, such as cultivation of drugs, or the sale of liquor may be considered a reasonable restriction. At the same time, a total prohibition on the sale or purchase of meat during a particular religious festival may not be considered reasonable.
Filing a false case against an SC/ST member as well as giving false information to a government official that causes the official to harass an SC/ST member are both illegal. For example, if you go to the police and falsely accuse an SC/ST member for a crime, you may be punished.
If an SC/ST member is falsely accused of:
The five constitutional remedies provide for different kinds of relief. These are mentioned below:
Relief can also be sought by an aggrieved person against the appointment of any High Court judge.(( Shiam Sundar v. State of Punjab, Civil WP No. 607 of 1956.))
For writ petitions except for habeas corpus, the court fee is Rs. 500.1 However, if the writ petition is filed in a criminal case, then no court fee is required.1
The court fee varies for different High Courts. Information on the court fee for individual High Courts can be found on the concerned court’s website.
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If you do not receive a decision from the PIO within 30 days, you can file an appeal against the decision of the PIO before an officer who is senior to the PIO. You need to file this appeal within 30 days. This time period may be extended if the officer feels that the delay is justified.
Usually, the public authority will state who the appellate authority is on its website or at its office. This will be an officer who is senior in rank to the PIO. A third party can also file an appeal within 30 days of the date of the order by the PIO.
If you are not satisfied with the first appeal decision, you can make a second appeal within 90 days to the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission by following the suggested format for the second appeal.
The responsibility of proving that the refusal to provide information was justified lies squarely on the PIO who refused this information. The Information Commission should finish the appeal in 30 days. This can be extended to forty-five days with reasons being recorded for the extension.
In order to make a decision, the Information Commission can ask the public authority to:
It can also impose penalties and reject specific applications.
A regular examination is conducted in the fifth class and eighth class at the end of each academic year.1
If a child fails an examination conducted, he/she is provided with additional instruction and granted an opportunity for re-appearing for the examination within two months from the declaration of the result.2 The students may be held back in the fifth or eighth standard if they fail in the re-examination.3 The discretion for the same lies with the Government.4 States such as Delhi and Gujarat have implemented this to hold back students who fail their re-assessment in classes 5 and 8.
This no-detention policy states that:
Article 358 provides that Article 19 rights can be suspended if a national emergency is proclaimed on the grounds of war or external aggression.
For instance, during the 1971 war between India and Pakistan, a national emergency was proclaimed and Article 19 was suspended. A fresh proclamation of emergency was made later in 1975 on the grounds of internal disturbance, which suspended the fundamental rights under Article 19 till 1977.
If a crime has been committed against you owing to your identity as member of the Scheduled castes or scheduled tribes, you can approach any of these places to get immediate relief:
You can either call 100 or visit a police station to report the incident. The police will note down your details and if needed arrive at your location to provide you immediate help. They will write down your information and details of the incident in an FIR and provide you with a copy of it, free of cost.
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes is a body set up under the Constitution to investigate and monitor the interests of the Scheduled Castes. They also have the power to inquire into specific complaints in cases where members of Scheduled Castes are deprived of their rights. You can either call their toll free helpline or visit their website for more information.
Toll Free Number: 1800 1800 345
Website: http://ncsc.nic.in/
Email: ncsccomplaints@gmail.com
Contact details of State Commissions: http://ncsc.nic.in/contactus
Like the NCSC, there exists a National Commission for Scheduled Tribes as well. They have the power to investigate into complaints registered for atrocities committed against the members of Scheduled Tribes.
Website: https://ncst.nic.in/
Contact information for the National Commission as well as its regional offices can be found here: https://ncst.nic.in/content/contact-us
SC/ST Protection Cells have been set up in different States and Union Territories across India. The head of these cells is usually a high ranking police officer of the State or UT, like the Inspector General of police or the Additional Director General of Police. If you want to approach such a cell in your state, take the help of the nearest police station.
If you are being forced to work as a manual scavenger or know someone who is being forced, please complain to the police or the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis. Please know that the practice of manual scavenging is prohibited under law. For more information please read this.
1. Go to the website of the Supreme Court of India here.
2. Click on the E-FILING menu below the HOME menu.
3. On the extreme right hand corner of the page, click on ‘New Registration’ if this is the first time a petition is being filed. If registration has already been done, proceed to step no. 7.
4. When ‘User Type’ is asked, choose ‘Petitioner in Person’ upon which a form will appear.
5. After filling the required information, click on the ‘Sign Up’ button at the end of the page.
6. After completing registration, go back to the ‘E-FILING’ page here.
7. Click on the ‘Login’ option
8. The following menu will appear. Fill in the required details.
9. After logging in, a menu will appear. Click on ‘New eFiling’.
10. The following page will be displayed. Fill in the required details. If the petition is against any decision by a lower court, then click on the ‘Lower Court’ button. Similarly, click on every category and fill in the required information.
11. Click on ‘Petition with Other Document’, if additional documents are to be submitted along with the petition.
12. After all the required information has been filled in and the payment is completed, an application number will be given.
If your application requests the following kinds of information, the public authority can lawfully refuse to give you:
If the release of the information causes copyright infringement, the PIO can refuse the request for information. Furthermore, the exemption does not apply if the information requested is more than 20 years old. In such a case, it must be given to the applicant. However, information relating to security and economic interests with another country, breach of parliamentary privilege and Cabinet proceedings can be denied even if it is more than 20 years old.
The right to freedom of speech and expression denotes the liberty to express one’s views, opinions and beliefs by the words, writing, art, pictures, etc. This is available to a person, a corporation, press, commercial advertisers, artists, etc.
It has the following variation (if applicable)
This special law guarantees certain rights to the victims, their dependents and those acting as witness to the complaints filed under this law. These rights are:
Protection from violence
Right to be treated with Dignity
Rights in Court
Special Protection
A person seeking to protect their fundamental right can file a petition before the appropriate court i.e., Supreme Court or a High Court. The petition should be filed in the prescribed form as given by the particular court. The prescribed format for a writ petition in the Supreme Court can be found here. For High Courts, there are different forms prescribed by each High Court which can be accessed by visiting the concerned High Court’s website.
After obtaining the prescribed form for the appropriate court, the following information should be mentioned in the petition1:
If any document is not in the physical possession of the petitioner, then a list of such documents should be attached to the petition.
After completely drafting the petition, it should be submitted at the filing counter of either the Supreme Court1 or concerned High Court3, according to the petitioner’s preference.
If you have a complaint about the way in which the PIO handled your RTI application, you can approach the higher authorities established under this Act – the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission. They have a duty under this Act to inquire into your complaint. You can make a complaint in the following situations:
If the Commission is convinced that there are reasonable grounds in the complaint, it has to initiate an inquiry into the matter. For the purpose of conducting an inquiry, it has the same powers as a civil court. This means that it can ask for people to come and be witnesses or submit relevant documents as evidence, inspect these documents, and ask for any public records.
The right to education law prescribes that the Pupil-Teacher Ratio should be maintained at 30:1 for first class to fifth class and 35:1 for sixth class to eighth class.1 It also provides that there should be2:
All schools run by the government or substantially aided by it are mandated to form a School Management Committee (SMC). The SMC comprises the elected representatives of the local authority and the parents, with ¾ of the committee composed of parents of the children, admitted in school. The SMC is devised to monitor the working of the school, prepare development plans for the school, monitor utilisation of grants for the school etc. However, the SMC for minority schools and aided schools shall perform advisory functions only. The SMC is vested with the responsibility of devising a School Development Plan, which will be the basis for plans and grants made by the respective State Government or local authorities.5
The law provides that all students between the ages of six to fourteen years who enrol and attend the school studying between I to VIII classes shall be entitled to nutritious meals at no cost.6 The funds for such meals shall be provided by the state government. However, implementation of the scheme and monitoring of the quality and preparation of the meal is overseen by the School Management Committee.7 These meals should be provided on all days except school holidays and should be served at school.8
Having a free and independent media is the cornerstone of democracy. Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution includes the freedom to express one’s ideas through any media like words, writings, pictures, paintings, visual representations, gestures, signs, etc. This includes publishing and propagating ideas. Thus, the freedom of media, i.e., the press and the audio-visual media (radio, podcasts, television news channels, YouTube, etc) is also protected under the freedom of expression.
In India, unlike in the United States, there is no separate constitutional provision for freedom of the press but it flows from Article 19(1)(a).1 As a result, the freedom of the press in India stands on the same footing as the freedom of speech of a citizen, and the press is subject to the same set of reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2). Media freedom includes a bundle of rights. Some of these rights are:
The law requires measures to be taken by the District administration to provide relief and ensure rehabilitation of members of SCs or STs who have been victims of atrocities and crimes mentioned under this special law.1 An assessment of the situation or damages will be done by the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police before the relief can be provided.
These immediate relief measures include making arrangements in cash and/or kind to victims, their family members and dependents. It should also include relief in the form of food, water, clothing, shelter, medical aid, transport facilities and any other essential items necessary for human beings. The law also provides for norms in terms of the relief amount for state governments to follow. These norms can be found in the Schedule attached to these Rules.
In cases of death, injury to persons or damage to property, either the victims or their dependents will have an additional right to claim compensation.
Such relief can be provided by either the District Magistrate, Sub-divisional Magistrate or Executive Magistrate.
Certain organisations like the security and intelligence agencies are excluded from giving information under the purview of this law. A list of these excluded organisations is provided in the Second Schedule to the RTI Act. However, information relating to corruption or human rights violations in such organisations can be asked for and provided after the Central Information Commission agrees to it. This has to be provided in 45 days.
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