Proposed amendments to RTI Rules of Central Govt

[aksmat]

1. Appointment of Secretary and his role
2. Role of Registrar in new set up
3. Appeal format
4. Inquiry during Appeal
5. Fee
6. Orders under Signatures of Registrar
7. 250 words and one subject per application
8. Role of Registrar under section 20
9. 60 days to comply with orders of commission
plus more points can be added to list

[colnrkurup]

Sponsorer

Yes/Thank you. It is opening now. I shall come back to the issue soon.

[nk agarwal]

Thnks Mr. Karira, am out of station, and would post my comments ater reaching back on 14th December, 2010.
warm regds

[karira]

I think that this is the first step by anti RTI activist to curtail peoples power by limiting the word up to 250, Postal charges Rs. 10.

Sir,
Please do not get emotional or give replies from your heart.
Stick to your head !
By now you should know that DoPT will only listen if you provide sound legal and logical arguments

The proposed amendments are unfortunate and its implementation is like scrapping the Act. However, I analyze the proposal in the following manner:

Refer to Section 4 Limitation of one subject is ok but confining it to 250 words is practically not possible. There should be no word limit. It is not an essay writing competition.

Refer to Section 5 (c) Actual cost is a vague topic. It opens the scope for PIO to provide misleading information.(h) Speed post costs minimum Rs 25/- therfore every time postal cost will exceed Rs.10/ and PIO will demand Rs.15 from the applicant. There is no need to add this sub-section. PIO must be asked to provide information through e mail if the applicant demands. It will save money and time.

Apart from the above two rest are all your suggestions and are new additions.
Please note that DoPT has only asked for comments on the "proposed rules" and has not asked for incorporation of new rules.

The following would be reply from PIO in the year 2011.. (you will get this reply after 30 days of filing the application)

1. The information you have asked is not related to one subject matter. Hence it is returned back.
2. Your application contains 253 words and therefore being returned. (The PIO has counted comma, full stops, line feeds etc. as words.)
3. PIO will not reply to your application because the postage charges were more then rupees 10. This will be disclosed only during the hearing of first appeal that you have filed after 30 days.
4. Your first appeal is rejected because you have not used the proper format.
5. You are requested to submit Rs. 1 as the postal charges for information you have requested is Rupees 11.
6. The department has to hire a computer and a operator @Rs 1000 per day to type the information you have asked. You should submit Rs. 2000 in advance for that.

I tried to count the words in above post of M. Faiyazuddin. The above post contains 301 words (counted using msword).

And this post of mine including this line and signature has 293 words.

Now imagine how much information you can ask in 250 words?

These are grounds of rejection which PIO can use to rject your RTI.
But what are the changes you want in the proposed rules so that PIO cannot raise these objections and reject your application ?

1. Appointment of Secretary and his role
2. Role of Registrar in new set up
3. Appeal format
4. Inquiry during Appeal
5. Fee
6. Orders under Signatures of Registrar
7. 250 words and one subject per application
8. Role of Registrar under section 20
9. 60 days to comply with orders of commission
plus more points can be added to list

Not at all clear !
What are the specific suggestions/objections you have to the proposed rules ?

================

Members,

I repeat, please do not be emotional and speak from the heart.
Only your wife/husband or your lover listens to such talk.
DoPT is not your wife/husband nor your lover.
Use logical and legal arguments.
Go over the old rules.

I want to confess that I am the joker in the pack who started this "consultancy" exercise by DoPT.
On 16 November, CIC had a meeting of Commissioners and the day those minutes were available on the CIc website, I filed 2 separate RTI applications with DoPT and CIC asking for:

1. Certified Copy of the draft proposed Rules
2. Names and addresses of all individuals, NGOs, PAs, etc to whom these draft rules have been circulated
3. List of suggestions made by each one of them (as in item No. 2 above)
4. List of suggestions made by the CIC to the proposed draft rules
5. Name of ICs who made each of the suggestions in Item No. 4
6. Name of ICs agreed with the proposed changes and suggestions
7. Name of ICs disagreed with the proposed changes/suggestions

(By the way that is 89 words !)

Exactly a week after the applications reached the respective PIOs, the draft rules were put up on the DoPT website.

[Dr. M. Faiyazuddin]

Kindly refer to-

Section 3 : The role and functions of Secretay is not defined. It should be made clear.

Refer to Section 5(a): Everywhere photocopy charge is 50-75 paise per page. Why the govt. wants to realise Rs.2/- per page from the RTI users?

Refer to Section 5(d): Why only only one hour. It should be free at least one hour daily till the entire inspection completes.

Refer to section 5(g): Hiring of machines etc. is the headache of the PIO. The govt. should pay the PIO for such hiring otherwise RTI users will get no information after much ado.

Refer to Section 5(h):: Free information to BPL category is a mockery. A poor person will not pay the fees of Rs 10/- but he will bear the expenses of Postal Stamps and xerox charges. What kind of benefit a poor person will get under this system? A relaxation of Rs.10/- Great generosity!

Refer to Section 7: There is no need of any format. Ordinary users will be harassed in the sense that even educated people cannot fill the form for opening an Account in a Bank. Forms are often difficult to understand and require help of experts.

I will write later till you view it and post your comments. And I assure/certify that I have used my brains in writing the above comments and guided by my emotions. Thanks.