High court charges Rs.500/- for RTI query.

[trueblue]

The UP and Delhi High Courts are charging 50 times more than the amount being charged by the Centre and a majority of states from a person seeking information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

While the Centre and most states have fixed the fee at Rs 10, the two HCs have been charging information-seekers Rs 500, virtually denying the poor the information they need.

The exorbitant fee has left the UP State Information Commission and Central Information Commission (CIC) fuming. They are demanding amendment to the RTI Act to bring in uniformity in the fee structure.

The present RTI gives states and the judiciary right to determine their own fees.

“This is virtual denial of information. It is against the spirit of the RTI. I've taken it up with the CIC,” says UP Information Commissioner Justice (retired) M A Khan who is in Delhi to participate in the first three-day convention of the CIC.

In its rules formulated on RTI, the Delhi HC says an information seeker will have to pay Rs 500 per application for information on all matters other than quasi-judicial and administrative. For the quasi-judicial and administration information, which will be available only to the affected persons, the fee has been pegged at Rs 50 per application. The court has also specified speed money (Rs 10 per page) for persons who want pages of information urgently.

[maneesh]

I feel there should be uniformity of RTI fees.

[trueblue]

I do not understand why the power was given to states to decide about the rates in first place?

[Chandrakant Dixit]

I have also come accross in Maharashtra one of the Nagar Parashid is Charging Rs. 10/- per paper and in addition the portion of Salary of the Clerk, Officer complying the information.

The rates should be unifrom and also very reasonable. The rates prescribed by the CIC @ Rs. 2.00 per paper is comfortable.
From Chandrakant Dixit.

[ganpat1956]

Originally Posted by Chandrakant Dixit

I have also come accross in Maharashtra one of the Nagar Parashid is Charging Rs. 10/- per paper and in addition the portion of Salary of the Clerk, Officer complying the information.

Dear Chandrakant Dixit,

I am surprised to note that a portion of the salary of the staf deployed is also collected from the information seekers. This is patently wrong and against the spirit with which the RTI Act was enacted. The CIC has already ruled against the collection of any such imputed cost. I have already posted the details of the said ruling in the following thread. The Costing of information. I am highlighting the salient portion of the ruling here. This practice of the Nagar Parishad in Maharashtra to collect such imputed cost should be stopped forthwith. I am sure the following decision will help you to do it.

CIC's Decision

In any case, there is no provision in the RTI Act to collect and recover from the information seekers the imputed cost i.e. the average salary and wages of the staff deployed for compiling and providing the information, as they are on the payroll of the Public Authority which is under obligation to provide information. And, most importantly, there are no norms and guidelines prescribed by the Government for recovery of attributable expenditure on account of salaries and wages of the concerned staff who are put on the job of providing information. The Bank should not have done what it has done in asking for payments towards the costs of compilation of information. This is seemingly done merely to discourage the information seeker, which is not consistent with the letter and spirit of the RTI Act. The Bank is directed to make suo moto disclosure of information without unduly burdening the staff and sacrificing its normal activities or disproportionately diverting its resources, to ensure transparency in its functioning. It should not arbitrarily charge for the costs that is not prescribed by the Government.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

[karira]

Originally Posted by trueblue

While the Centre and most states have fixed the fee at Rs 10, the two HCs have been charging information-seekers Rs 500, virtually denying the poor the information they need.

Recently, the Delhi High Court has reduced the fee from Rs. 500/- to Rs. 50/-.

This is as per the following:

http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Orders/Decision_16072007_01.pdf

[abhijeet]

Friends,
Please let me know what information we may expect from the High Courts of different states ? Is it possible to have copy of certain judgement of the said high court by paying the required fees ? is it possible to have different queris clarified by the SPIO of the High court ? Please provide me the the type of information is being provided by the High Court under RTI ACt .
Thanks-- Abhijeet

[abhijeet]

Friends,
Please let me know what information we may expect from the High Courts of different states ? Is it possible to have copy of certain judgement of the said high court by paying the required fees ? Is it possible to have different queris clarified by the SPIO of the High court ? Please provide me the the type of information is being provided by the High Court under RTI ACt .
Thanks-- Abhijeet