On 12-09-2014, RTI Foundation day, very interesting statistics are compiled by RTI Assessment & Analysis Group (RAAG) and National Concern for Peoples’ Right to Infor mation (NCPRI). Here under, I report some of them:
RTI Rules:
India has one Right to Information (RTI) Act but 118 separate sets of rules formulated independently by states, courts, information commissioners, Parliament and state assemblies that run a maze around the legislation.
The rules dictate varied fees, application format, number of words, type of identity proof required and mode of payment making the process of seeking information a complex one.
For instance, 34 states and union territories have prescribed application fee of Rs. 10. But cost of pursuing an RTI application could range between Rs. 50 to Rs. 100 excluding cost of information. Haryana charges Rs. 50 for all RTI applications while Arunachal Pradesh charges Rs. 50 for most applications but Rs. 500 for information related to bids, tenders or business contracts.
Only Andhra Pradesh has cut down on the fees—Rs. 10 for cities, free of cost for village level and Rs. 5 for subdistrict level. Sikkim charges Rs. 100 for both first and second appeal, while filing a first appeal in Madhya Pradesh costs Rs. 50 and a second appeal Rs. 100. While the central government has mandated Rs. 2 per photocopy, Chhatisgarh has limited the number to 50 pages while Arunachal charges Rs. 10.
To complicate things further, inspection of documents is allowed free of cost by some states for the first hour and then charges of Rs. 5 are levied in Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Sikkim and Uttarakhand. The cost of inspection of documents in Daman and Diu is Rs. 100 a day for a maximum of 3 hours and if the information sought is older by a decade or more, the public authority can charge an additional Rs. 25 an hour. States have also placed odd restrictions on the format of the application. In Karnataka, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra the length of the RTI application cannot exceed more than 150 words while the Centre has mandated a 500 word limit.
There are similar inconsistencies in rules related to proof of identity required by public authorities. While the RTI act does not mandate any proof of identity section 3 does say that only Indian citizens can use the law. This has led to states like Goa, Gujarat, Odisha, Sikkim insisting on identity proof of the applicant.
RTI users & where do they live:
Maharashtra Government’s notification:
On 17th October, the Maharashtra Government issued a notice directing all government departments not to part with information unless it is in “public interest.” “The notification violates the RTI Act and seems to be designed to promote corruption,”
(Author’s Note: Compare this with the judgement reported under part A in this issue. I believe that the notification is against the spirit of the RTI Act and is also illegal)
