Want information? Pay Rs.53,860

[karira]

As reported by Special Correspondent in thehindu.com on 04 July 2008:
The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Want information? Pay Rs.53,860

Want information? Pay Rs.53,860

KOCHI: The District Planning Officer, Palakkad, has asked an information seeker under the Right to Information Act to pay Rs.53,860 towards the cost of providing information relating to use of MPs’ funds. The cost includes Rs.13,000 for photocopying the documents, Rs.30,560 for paying two research assistants for compiling the information, Rs.300 for loading and unloading charges and Rs.4,000 as postal charges.

D.B. Binu of Kochi, a lawyer and campaigner for Right to Information, who had sought the details of Kerala MPs’ Local Area Development fund, said the demand was illegal and against the spirit of the RTI Act. He said he would appeal to the State Information Commission.

According to him, the rules framed by the Kerala government only require the information seeker to pay Rs.2 per page of certified copy of the information sought. Those belonging to the below poverty line (BPL) category need not pay even this. Mr. Binu had requested the Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi to give him the details of the funds utilised by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs from Kerala. The PMO, after providing some details like the guidelines for using the funds, had asked the Secretariat at Thiruvananathapuram to provide the rest of the details.

[bahl_ajay]

Asking for exhorbitant rates to provide info under the RTI Act is just another innovative way of PIOs to avoid coming out with information.

Most of us simply turn away on hearing the high costs that we may have to pay in getting the information.

I too have faced this problem a number of times.

[karira]

Ajay,

Although the news article does not give the details of the information that was asked, it seems that in this case both the applicant and the PA have not done their homework.

The use of MP funds are already in the public domain.
In the case of MP's and MPLAD funds, the full data is available on the Lok
Sabha/Rajya Sabha website and also with the Planning Officer in the District
Collectors office, which is the planning authority for MPLAD funds.
The PIO could have easily redirected the applicant to the appropriate website.

The Planning department in the DC's office is also the custodian of information regarding use of MLA funds for that particular constituency.

District Collectorates have to suo-motto publish this information under Sec. 4 of the RTI Act. Some of them have already published them on their websites. So there should be no question of additional charges for information which has to be available in the public domain.

Apart from the photocopying charges, there is no provision in the RTI Act (unless the Kerala RTI Rules specifically mention that) to charge for research assistants, loading/unloading and postal charges.

From the news report (although no dates have been given), if the applicant requested the information to the PMO and the PMO asked the secretariat in Trivandrum to provide rest of the information, it must have already taken 30 days. As per Sec 7(6), the information has to be given "free of charge" if it is delayed beyond the mandated 30 days.

Whenever a PIO asks an applicant for "additional charges", the applicant has to analyse the demand carefully and also recheck the calculations/details/reasoning of the PIO's demand. Rs. 13,000 photocopy charges is equivalent to 6500 pages !