Want info from Delhi police? Shell out Rs 1.5 lakh!

[sidmis]

If you want information about stolen mobiles in the capital, you may have to shell out about Rs 1.5 lakh to the city police. Delhi-based social activist Subodh Jain got a rude shock when he received a letter from Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Robin Hibu asking him to deposit Rs 13,949 as advance for information he sought on the number of cases of mobile thefts in the city under the RTI Act.

“If I want information from each of the 10 police districts and I pay the said amount for each police district, then I may have to shell out Rs 1.5 lakh,” Jain said, quoting the letter.

Jain filed an RTI application on October 16 with Delhi Police headquarters seeking information about details of number of cases of mobile phone thefts in the capital, the number of those recovered and recovery strategy of the police, among others.

DCP Headquarters Keval Singh forwarded the application to all district DCPs and it was only Hibu who replied to Jain.
Hibu, in his letter, said the point-wise information sought by Jain was “lengthy and time consuming” to compile.

“In addition, a considerable strength of manpower of (Hibu's) office as well as all police stations will be utilised to compile this information,” he said.
According to Hibu, a sub-Inspector from his office would have to be deputed for the job for two days, the cost of which was calculated at Rs 1,546.

Apart from it, Jain would also have to pay Rs 1,353 for deputing a head constable for three days while another Rs 11,050 for 13 constables for their services for two days in this connection, the letter said.
Hibu was not available for comment.

New Delhi: November 17, 2007,
Mumbai Mirror Online

[ganpat1956]

According to Hibu, a sub-Inspector from his office would have to be deputed for the job for two days, the cost of which was calculated at Rs 1,546.

Apart from it, Jain would also have to pay Rs 1,353 for deputing a head constable for three days while another Rs 11,050 for 13 constables for their services for two days in this connection, the letter said.
Hibu was not available for comment.

Mr Hibu has to be reminded about the CIC decisions on the imputed cost of collecting information and providing the same to the info seekers, the details of which are available at: The Costing of information

[karira]

Mr Hibu should be not be reminded of anything....he should be asked to visit:

Zonal Integrated Police Network (zipnet.nic.in)

That has the full list of mobile phones (34,586) stolen in Delhi and for which FIR's were registered.

PS: Just wonder how FIR/DD/GD Nr. 27B of Okhla Ind. Estate Police Station is dated 14th February 2008 !

At least citizens in Delhi are lucky, the Police register their complaints for stolen mobiles...in Hyderabad, you could get thrown out of a Police Station if you walk in to complain about a stolen mobile.

[ssen123]

Why cannot this information be provided by the service provider? Because any subscriber will apprach the service provider to block his/her SIM card?

[maneesh]

Great information karira,

[karira]

Why cannot this information be provided by the service provider? Because any subscriber will apprach the service provider to block his/her SIM card?

As per the newspaper report, in this case, the applicant wanted the information about "number of cases of mobile thefts". This would be available only with the police.

In any case, except for MTNL and BSNL, all other mobile phone operators are in the private sector and hence are not PA's as defined in the RTI Act.

Please try asking any operator only for the "number of subscribers who approached you for blocking SIM cards". I can assure you that you will have a hearty laugh ! The replies I got, still bring a smile to my face, even after 1 year.

[sidmis]

RTI mess: Delhi Police demand money to give information

As Reported in NDTV on March 26, 2008 (New Delhi) Press Trust of India

The Right to Information Act might be hailed as people's power in democracy, but data under it may not come for free for an NGO that wanted information on missing children.

'Nav Shristi' - an NGO working for women and child rights - was shocked when two police stations in the capital demanded Rs 12,274 each for disclosing information on missing and kidnapped children in Delhi under the RTI.

''We were prompted to file an FIR after coming across complaints from poor people that police was not taking their cases seriously,'' director of the NGO Reena Banerjee said.
But it was the monetary charges listed by the police that rattled the social worker more.

According to the reply to the RTI application, ''one Sub-Inspector at Rs 773 per day for one day, one head constable at Rs 451 per day for one day and 13 constables from police stations at Rs 425 per day for two days would be needed for the information to be gathered.''

This amounted to a total of Rs 12,274 as mentioned in the letter from these two police stations.

The west Delhi and south-west Delhi police stations had given a break-up of the amount they wanted in order to deliver the services.
In all, 12 police stations were approached and these were the only two that cited any charges to be paid for the information.
Unhappy over the issue, Banerjee approached the Central Information Commission (CIC) in this regard.

''Why can't they give us the complete information? And if ten of the 12 police posts could part with the information free of cost, then why not these two,'' Banerjee questioned.

As per the RTI rules, the applicant has to pay Rs two per page to get the information.
According to a CIC official, ''the concerned officer can charge rates only as prescribed by the state government. It should be a reasonable amount.''

However, he was clueless on the definition of ''reasonable amount''.
When contacted, south-west district DCP Shalini Singh said, ''We know we have asked for a certain sum of money to do the job. What we have done is rightful under the laws of RTI.''

RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal said, ''The RTI Act does not prescribe any such charges. The Sub-Inspector and the Constable will work on a holiday or on a working day to retrieve such information and he is a paid servant. ''It is their job. They cannot ask for extra charges being government servants,'' he said.

[bahl_ajay]

Delhi Police are not the only department asking for a big amount to part with any information, I too have come across a number of instances wherein the departments ask the person seeking information thru RTI Act to deposit a hefty fees as this is just another way of keeping one away from seeking the information.

In a recent case I was asked to pay @ Rs.9.50 per page of information sought by me from the Pay & Accounts Office (CGHS) Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, New Delhi.

[karira]

The CIC has several times advised and cautioned Delhi Police for being RTI unfriendly.

Please read CIC comments and recommendations about Delhi Police in the following decisions:

http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Orders/Decision_31012007_18.pdf

Charges for manpower used to give the information cannot be included in the "additional fees". There are several decisions of the CIC indicating this. One of the simplest decisions is:

http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Orders/Decision_21092007_16.pdf

[karira]

Delhi Police are not the only department asking for a big amount to part with any information, I too have come across a number of instances wherein the departments ask the person seeking information thru RTI Act to deposit a hefty fees as this is just another way of keeping one away from seeking the information.

Ajay,

In this case, the Delhi Police is asking for big amount for information that is available FREE of COST on the internet !

Don't they know what information their own department has put up on the the internet ?