New Delhi: In a long-awaited decision, the
CIC has said no fee other than prescribed in the information
law can be demanded from applicants for providing information.
The decision comes as a relief to RTI applicants as
several government agencies, including the Delhi Police, were
demanding lakhs of rupees as "further fee" from them whenever
they sought voluminous information.
They cited that "considerable manpower was supposed to be
utilised or diverted to discern that information" for which
the applicant had to pay on the basis of man-days calculated
by the authorities.
Deciding a similar case of RTI applicant Subodh Jain
where the Delhi Police had demanded a total of Rs 1.60 lakh
for his four different applications, the Commission said, "The
issue regarding charging cost of deployment of manpower on the
basis of man-days is not admissible under the Act."
The four-member Bench clarified that fee can only be
charged under RTI Act under three provisions - application fee
which is generally Rs 10, charges for photocopying etc which
is normally Rs two per page and getting information in printed
or electronic format.
The bench said, "No further fee representing the cost
shall be charged."
The Commission, however, said that relaxation can be
given in some special cases where information sought by any
RTI applicant has a pre-determined rate like books, maps,
plans, documents, samples, models.
It also cited cases where postal or courier charge for
mailing information is in excess of minimum slab prescribed by
the Department of Posts.
The Commission said in these cases such "cost" of
information can be recovered from the applicants.
The bench comprising Chief Information Commissioner
Wajahat Habibullah, Shailesh Gandhi, M M Ansari and Satyananda
Mishra advised the Department of Personnel and Training -- the
nodal agency for the implementation of the Act -- to provide
rules for public authorities for determining cost of providing
information in such cases.
"The 'further fee' mentioned in Section 7(3) only refers
to the procedure in availing of the further fee already
prescribed under 7(5) of the RTI Act, which is 'further' in
terms of the basic fee of Rs 10," the order said.
Section 7(5) of the RTI Act deals with the provision of
information in the printed or in any electronic format.
Bureau Report