New Delhi: The Centre has asked all
departments, state governments and judiciary to bring the
Right to Information Act fee in "consonance" with the fee
prescribed by it.
The move comes as several public authorities like Delhi
High Court were charging Rs 50 for giving information under
the transparency law as against Rs 10 prescribed by the Centre
under the Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost)
Rules, 2005.
In a recent circular issued by the Department of
Personnel and Training which is the nodal body for
implementing the RTI Act in the country, it said that fee
should not become a "disincentive for using the Right to
Information."
"Section 27 and 28 of the Right to Information Act, 2005
empower the appropriate Governments and the Competent
Authorities to make rules to prescribe, iter alia, the fees
payable under the Act.
"In exercise of the powers, the Central Government, State
Governments, High Courts etc have notified rules. It has been
observed that the fee prescribed by different appropriate
Governments/competent authorities is at great variance," the
circular said.
It asked all the states and competent authorities to
"review" their RTI fee rules and "prescribe fee in consonance"
with the fee prescribed by the Centre and inform the DoPT with
the action taken in this regard.
Recently, activist Subhash Agrawal has complained before
the Central Information Commission about the hardships faced
by RTI applicants because of variance in RTI fee rules and
procedures.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, August 10, 2011, 21:40