State government rules mar spirit of RTI Act: study

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State government rules mar spirit of RTI Act: study
As Reported in NewKerala.com

New Delhi, May 15 : The Right to Information (RTI) Act has become a
complicated tool for the common man to use because of different rules
framed by various state governments, a study by a voluntary
organisation says.

On the basis of a research in seven states - Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Orissa, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh - this year,
the Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) study concludes that the
state RTI rules going against the spirit of the RTI Act would create
doubts in the citizens' minds instead of facilitating access to
information.

The study notes: "The Delhi High Court and Allahabad High Court have
fixed Rs.500 as the application fee for seeking information while the
Karnataka government has framed RTI rules which require the request
for information to be related to one subject and not exceeding 150
words."
In contrast to the mandate of the RTI Act that access to information
should be affordable, the rate of application in Haryana is Rs.50, not
a small amount for a common man, it says.
In Orissa, the cost for receiving information in the form of
photocopies is Rs.5 per page and in Haryana it is Rs.10.

"It is worth noting that the central rules stipulate the rate per page
photocopied to be Rs.2 per page," the study states.
Such observations led to the conclusion that "such state government
rules coming within three years of the drafting of the RTI Act create
doubts in the minds of the citizens about the intention of the state
governments and competent authorities to facilitate citizens' access
to information".
State government rules mar spirit of RTI Act: study @ NewKerala.Com News, India
--- IANS