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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | High court modifies rules, to charge less from information seekers under RTI

High court modifies rules, to charge less from information seekers under RTI

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published Published on Jun 23, 2012   modified Modified on Jun 23, 2012
-The Times of India

LUCKNOW: In a major reprieve for the RTI seekers of the Allahabad High Court, they might no more have to shell out Rs 500 as the fee for information sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, if the state government acts fast. The Allahabad High Court had already modified its RTI rules and the same has been sent to the government for publication in the official gazette.

The amended rules, however, are pending with the state government for notification in the official gazette. The public information officers (PIOs) of the Allahabad High Court informed the Central Information Commission(CIC), New Delhi, about the same during the hearing conducted in the complaint filed by RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal.

The government, on September 20, 2006, notified the Allahabad High Court (Right to Information) Rules, 2006. The high court charges Rs 500 as fee from RTI applicants, ever since the start. The higher fee has also acted as a disincentive for information seekers. CIC had, in the past, made several observations about the fee structure of the high court, expecting that the court would revise rules and make it more conducive for people.

The high court informed the CIC that amended rules are pending with the state government for more than two months. "Although high court has been reminding the government to publish the rules urgently, it is strange that state government is taking so much time to publish the same in the gazette," said the court officials.

The department of personnel and training (DoPT) on April 26, 2011, had written to the chief secretaries of all the states, registrars of all high courts and registrar of the Supreme Court to charge Rs 10 from the RTI applicants as fee as laid down in the Act.tnn In case, there is a need to provide annexures, Rs 2 can be charged per annexure. The public authorities providing information in a floppy or a diskette, can charge Rs 50 per device.

The Act also allows inspection of public documents by applicants. In such a case, the authority, allowing the applicant to inspect the documents, can always charge but the amount should not exceed the one mentioned in the Act.

Section 28 of the RTI Act, 2005 allows competent authority the power to make its own rules for implementation of RTI provisions. The experts are of the opinion that though the high court is a competent authority and can make its own rules, it cannot change the law.

The Times of India, 23 June, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/High-court-modifies-rules-to-charge-less-from-information-seekers-under-RTI/articleshow/14349229.cms


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