The Freedom of Information Act, 2002

7. Disposal of requests.-

1. On receipt of a request under section 6, the Public Information Officer shall, as expeditiously as possible, and in any case within thirty days of the receipt of the request, either provide the information requested on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in sections 8 and 9:

Provided that where the information sought for concerns the life and liberty of a person, the same should be provided within forty-eight hours of the receipt of the request:

Provided further that where it is decided to provide the information on payment of any further fee representing the cost of providing the information, he shall send an intimation to the person making the request, giving the details of the fees determine d by him, requesting him to deposit the fees and the period intervening between the dispatch of the said intimation and payment of fees shall be excluded for the purpose of calculating the period of thirty days referred to above.

2. Before taking any decision under sub-section (1), the Public Information Officer shall take into consideration the representation made by a third party under section 11.
3. Where a request is rejected under sub-section (2), the Public Information Officer shall communicate to the person making request,-

1. the reasons for such rejection;
2. the period within which an appeal against such rejections may be preferred;
3. the particulars of the appellate authority.

4. Information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question.