Times of India: New
Delhi: Saturday, June 01, 2013.
Filing RTI
applications will now become easier with the government extending e-filing of
petitions to more departments and enabling people to pay through web-based
payment gateway. After launching the facility for department of personnel and
training (DoPT) recently, this will be extended to nearly half a dozen
departments including road transport and highways ministry on June 3.
DoPT has
already launched a portal, rtionline.gov.in, to file RTI applications/first
appeals online along with payment gateway. Payment can be made through internet
banking of SBI and its associate banks and debit/credit cards of Master/Visa.
Through this portal, RTI applications/first appeals can be filed for the main
ministries/departments of central government located in the national capital.
After filing
their applications, citizens can track the status and will also get online
reply from the ministries/departments. However, the website mentions that such
applications should not be filed for other public authorities under
central/state governments through this portal. This includes the entire Delhi
government.
According to
sources, DoPT officials told the highway ministry on Thursday that the number
of RTI applications has increased manifold since the facility was started.
While RTI
activist Subhash Agrawal welcomed the initiative, he said the service will have
practical limitations because of public authorities being in very large numbers
apart from government departments and ministries. "System should be
formulated whereby there may be sub-options for undertakings after main options
of departments and ministries controlling these undertakings," he said.
He added that
DoPT should also take up issuing RTI-stamps or numbered RTI-coupons as the
simplest mode of paying fees and copying charges. It will not only save
petitioners of cumbersome use of postal orders for the payment mode, but also
save largely on handling cost of postal orders.
He has taken
this case to the Central Information Commission (CIC). A full bench of the
commission will take up the issue.
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