Question: Aarey Booth in Mumbai

[mayurdanait]

There is a so-called Aarey Booth opp. where I stay in Vile Parle(E), Mumbai. Apart from what he is licensed for, he is also running an elaborate PCO service - which involves several wireless connections. This is mainly used by auto/taxi drivers, meaning that 5-6 of them are always parked illegally on the road, happily making calls from their autos, blocking traffic on a busy road, and making it hazardous for people to cross the road.

I am thinking of the following questions, addressed to PIO, Office of Additional Commissioner, BMC, K-East Ward

1. What goods and services is the specific Aarey Booth operator allowed to provide?
2. Is operation of a Public Call Office (PCO) included in the license ?
3. If yes, how many fixed-lines and how many wireless lines can be operate?
4. Can you provide a copy of the above said licenses?

Couple of inputs I need -

- any suggestions to improve the nature of the questions ?
- I suppose I have to attach a court-fee stamp of Rs 10/-. Where is that available?
- I need response by Speed-post or Registered AD. How do I pay for the response?

[karira]

Mayur,

1. Please provide me with the certified copy of the "permission" and "license" given to the Milk Booth operator operating at...........(give exact address or a small sketch)
2. As per the permission and license what are the business or other activities the milk booth can conduct ? Please provide me a certified copy of the rules and regulations which show the list of activities or business that can be conducted under the said permission or license
3 a) The said milk booth is also being run as a PCO (Public Call Office). Please inform me if any permission has been given by the Municipal corporation for running a telephone booth inside a milk booth.
b) If yes, please provide me a certified copy of the said permission.
c) If permission is given, please provide me certified copy of rules and regulations under which a permission can be given to a milk booth to also operate a PCO
4. Please inform me the Name, designation, office address, office telephone number of the Officer who is responsible for ensuring that businesses in the area called.........are functioning as per rules and following the license/permission conditions as per those granted to them.
5a) Is there any authorised Auto/Taxi stand approved by the Municipal Corporation at the area called.......located between house number....and ...... ?
b) If yes, please provide me certified copy of the said authorisation/permission
c) If no, please provide me the copy of the rules and regulations under which action can be taken and such illegal activity removed

(Just modify the above and polish it up a little bit. You can add more points on the above line)

Your RTI application and fees has to be as per RTI Rules for Maharashtra. These are attached to the following post:

Need Address of Aurangabad commissionor of RTI

[mayurdanait]

Thank you - this is a big help

[abhi987]

You can download RTI application format which is applicable for Mumbai from http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/attach...it-rto-rti.doc, I use it regularly for filing RTI queries in Mumbai.

It is in word format with tables inserted in it, so you can straight away start filling it, and the tables will keep on expanding to accomodate the data.

You will require a Rs.10 court fee stamp for filing RTI application, Rs. 20 for First appeal if you have to go in for one later on, and Rs.20 for second appeal in case...

You can obtain courtfee stamps directly from Courts where they have a window for selling stamp papers, court fee stamps etc or alternately you can get court fee stamps from some panwala's, Xerox shops in the vicinity of courts/ BMC offices/ railway station but you will have to pay Rs.14 for a court fee stamp of Rs. 10

[mayurdanait]

Thanks, and after affixing the stamp, I should just post the query to the concerned department by Registered AD, and keep the receipt with me? Anything else that needs to be done?

[karira]

Please also keep the AD card (after it comes back to you) as proof that the PIO actually received the RTI Application. If you do not get the AD card back, just write a simple letter to the Post Office from where you made the Registered AD, requesting the Post Master to get you a proof of delivery. They will provide you a letter after a few days as to when the RTI application was actually delivered.

[abhi987]

Mayur,

I would prefer you mail it by speed post, because once I mailed it by registered ad and I had to wait for ever for the acknowlegment which is very necessary when you have to pursue the matter further, I then wrote to the post office and received a reply from them after another 15 days, that the letter was indeed delivered, much after I received the reply from the PIO himself.

Whereas when you mail it by speed post you can log on to Untitled Page and track the status of your mail.

Also I read in one of the posts by Kariraji (thanks for the tip Kariraji) that you can take a print out of the final status of your post from the above link and use it as a proof of delivery.

That way you do not have to wait for the acknowledgment.

[mayurdanait]

Thanks - that makes sense. Following up with the PO for the AD receipt would be a needless chore

[mayurdanait]

I guess I need further advice. I had actually posted 2 RTI applications - one to the Traffic Police HQ and other to the BMC. Both were posted in the end-Sept timeframe. In both of them, I had requested for a response by POST.

1. I have received a letter from the Traffic Police, stating that the reply is ready and I should travel to Worli to collect it (after paying Rs 2) Is there a way I can get them to post it to me ? How do I pay the Rs 2 in that case?
I could collect it personally, but I am curious to know the procedure.

2. It is close to 40 days now, but I have received nothing in response to my query to the BMC. What is the appropriate course of action now?

[karira]

1. There is no ground for the Traffic Police to call you all the way to Worli to collect the information. The PIO is supposed to send it to you. If you have the PIO's number, just call him and ask him, under what section of the RTI Act or any rules framed thereunder, is he asking you to come to his office to collect the information ?
The Rs. 2.00 he has asked you is for the photocopy charges for the 1 page of photocopy that he wants to give you. Ask him as to how you should pay it. Maybe he will accept a IPO or any other mode of payment.
If all arguments fail, request him to send the application to the nearest Traffic Police Station near you and you can collect from there.
By the way, is the reply of the PIO within the mandated 30 day period. If it isn't, remind the PIO about Sec 7(6) of the RTI Act, under which he is supposed to give you information free of charge if he delays it beyond the 30 day period.

2, For the BMC, since 40 days are over, just file a First Appeal with the First Appellate Authority, in respect of the particular PIO to whom you filed your RTI Application. This is deemed denial of information. A standard format for First Appeal for deemed denial is attached to the following post:


Disregarding RTI Act

Just modify it suitably for your requirements.

[sandeepbaheti]

Under Maharashtra RTI rules you are required to pay the actual postage charges for information demanded by post. It's better to call up the PIO and work out the amount for receiving the information by post. Otherwise you always have the option of collecting it personally.

[mayurdanait]

Thanks for your replies.

For the BMC, I have prepared my first appeal based on your format. How do I get the address of the First Appellate Authority to send the appeal to?

[karira]

Originally Posted by mayurdanait

How do I get the address of the First Appellate Authority to send the appeal to?

The FAA details, for the corresponding PIO, are given here:

Official Website of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai

[abhi987]

Dear Mayur,

I have attached First Appeal format valid for Maharashtra, you can download it from here http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/attach...ble_format.doc, it has tables inserted in word document so you can straight start filling in it and the table will keep on expanding to accomodate more data.

If you are finding it difficult to locate the First Appellant Authority, I have added this paragraph at the end of the First Appeal, so you can file your first appeal with the same PIO, and he will have to forward it to the Appeallant Authority "Since it is the PIO’s responsibility to inform me of the particulars of the appellate authority as per Section 7 (8) (iii), and he has not done so, it is his responsibility to forward it to the First Appellate Authority"

You will need to paste court fee stamp of Rs,20/- for first appeal.

[mayurdanait]

Thank you both for your prompt reply.

Another clarification - if I mention that I would like to be present at the hearing, and for some reason am not actually able to make it on the given date & time, will the hearing go ahead as planned or will they simply adjourn it since the Appellant wished to be present and actually failed to turn up?

[karira]

Most probably they will just go ahead.

It is always advisable to be present at the hearing to rebut all contentions of the PIO and put forward your case logically and forcefully.

[mayurdanait]

Hi all,

I have finally received a reply from BMC, a day after I posted my first appeal.
They have answered my queries around the permission for the Aarey Booth at that location. Regarding my specific queries on what can happen inside the booth, they have provided me with a copy of the NOC that Aarey has provided, and specified that BMC has nothing to do with granting permission for activities inside the booth.

However, 2 things from the Aarey NOC are striking -

1. The NOC grants permission for a Public Call Office (PCO)
2. The NOC however, clearly states that no permission is granted for commercial activities like STD/ISD. It also asks the booth operator to directly settle bills with MTNL - seems to exclude private service providers.
3. The NOC also states that the Aarey Office will be responsible for/have the authority to take action in case of violation of terms and conditions.

I think the logical course of action for me is to file an RTI Query with Aarey Milk Colony, attaching a copy of my BMC query, and copy of Aarey NOC to the Milk Booth, as under -

1. Refer the attached NOC, the said operator has not been granted permission to run commercial services like STD/ISD inside the booth.
A. Are you aware that the operator is running an elaborate communications centre with several STD/ISD lines, both wireless and fixed connections?
B. Are you aware that several of these lines are provided by private service providers, such as Reliance, Vodafone and TATA Indicom ?


2. Refer the attached NOC, your office is responsible for taking action in case of violation of terms and conditions therein.
A. Please let me know when was the last date & time a competent officer from your department visited the Booth to ensure that conditions of the NOC were being adhered to? Please provide a copy of the inspection report.
B. If any violations were observed, please let me know what action was taken. Please provide copy of any notice that was issued to the operator.
C. If violations have been found and no action has been taken thus far, please provide details of date by which action can be expected to be taken.

I am not sure I am framing the query very well - would welcome any suggestions.

[abhi987]

Also ask for the name of the officer responsible for taking action in case of violation of terms and conditions