How to File an RTI Application in Kerala: Online Portal, Fee, Appeals

An RTI application to a Kerala government office costs Rs 10, people below the poverty line pay nothing, and the office has 30 days to reply. You can file on paper with the department's Public Information Officer, or online through the state portal, rtiportal.kerala.gov.in, which the government launched in June 2023 to comply with a Supreme Court direction.

• Can I file an RTI application online in Kerala?
• How to file RTI step by step?
• What is the fee for providing RTI information in Kerala?
• What if they do not reply?
• How do you write one that gets answered?

Can I file an RTI application online in Kerala?

Yes, for many state departments. The Kerala portal routes applications through the government's e-Office system to the right State Public Information Officer, and the fee is paid through the e-Treasury system. It does not cover everything: a petition filed in the Kerala High Court in late 2024 complained that many district and village-level offices were still not on the portal. If the office you need is not listed, a paper application is still valid, and the government's own order says offices must keep accepting them.

Central government bodies in Kochi are a different system: those covered by the Centre's portal take applications at rtionline.gov.in, not the Kerala site.

How to file RTI step by step?

• Find the right office. Kochi Corporation, KSEB, the Kerala Water Authority, GCDA and the village office are separate public authorities, each with its own Public Information Officer. Our explainer on who handles what between the Corporation and GCDA saves a misdirected letter.
• Write the questions. Address it to the Public Information Officer of that office, say it is a request under the Right to Information Act, 2005, and list what you want as numbered points.
• Pay Rs 10. Online, through the portal. On paper, Kerala's rules allow a court fee stamp, a treasury remittance, cash against a receipt, or a demand draft. Central offices in Kerala follow central rules and may differ: the National Informatics Centre's Kerala office, for example, does not accept court fee stamps. Ask before you post it.
• Keep proof. Get a dated receipt if you hand it in, or send it by registered post. The 30 days start from the date the office receives it.

What is the fee for providing RTI information in Kerala?

The application fee is the main cost; copies are charged on top. As of October 2026:

Item	Cost
Application fee	Rs 10
Photocopies (A4)	Rs 3 per page under Kerala's fee rules, as amended in 2021
Applicants below the poverty line	Free, with proof of BPL status

The BPL line has a recent twist. Kerala amended its rules in 2015 to cap free information for BPL applicants at 20 pages. In a February 2026 judgment, reported in July, the Kerala High Court struck that cap down as going beyond the RTI Act, which says no fee shall be charged from people below the poverty line. An office that still asks a BPL applicant to pay for page 21 is on weak ground.

What if they do not reply?

• 30 days is the normal deadline; information concerning someone's life or liberty must be given within 48 hours.
• First appeal: within 30 days of the reply, or of the deadline passing with no reply, to the appellate authority named in the office, usually a senior officer in the same department.
• Second appeal: to the Kerala State Information Commission in Thiruvananthapuram, within 90 days of the first appeal decision, or of the date it was due if none came.

How do you write one that gets answered?

Ask for records, not opinions. "Why has my road not been tarred?" invites a non-answer; "certified copies of the estimate, work order and completion certificate for the tarring of X road" gets paper. RTI gives you access to information that exists in files, and Public Information Officers are not obliged to give opinions, interpret records or create new documents. Keep it to a few specific points per application, and name dates and file numbers where you have them. The method works: a Kochi Metro pass figure we cite in our fares guide came out of an RTI reply. More civic how-tos are in Guides.