The North East Today: Meghalaya: Wednesday, July 12, 2017.
In what may
be termed as a blatant defiance of the RTI, the Achik Youth Council (AYC) was
in for a shocker when it sought information under the RTI Act of 2005 from the Public
Works Department (PWD) East Garo Hills, after the NGO was provided a bill of over
Rs 4.5 lakhs for the information to be provided in digital format.
The
information being sought by the NGO pertained to road projects under
Williamnagar division including PMGSY roads in the district.
The
department’s unprecedented demand has forced the NGO to seek the intervention
of the State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC) for a resolution of the
matter even as the NGO sought to understand why such a demand was made in the
first place. The NGO has further sought the information to be provided for free
after the department had missed the 30 day deadline to communicate with them on
the matter.
“We had
sought the information through scanned copies in a DVD as we expected the
number of pages to be big and costly through paper documents. However, when we
were provided a bill of about Rs 4.5 lakhs, we were in for a complete shock. We
thus decided to approach the SCIC on the matter,” said Maxbirth G Momin, a
member of the NGO.
The complaint
by the NGO was sent on July 7 this month to the SCIC.
The NGO
further pointed to the department trying to falsify the date of sending them
intimation of the amount required.
“We filed the
RTI on May 15 and on July 1 received a letter from the PIO, PWD (Roads),
Williamnagar Division, wherein they sought the money for scanned copies in
digital format at market rates. While the letter head states May 17 as the date
of replying, the registered post shows the date as June 27. This is
falsification of information and also falls more than 40 days after our request
for information,” added Maxbirth.
The NGO
further pointed to a earlier case wherein charging for scanning at market rates
was not allowed but charging at rates as per the Act was allowed. They also
stated that the information should now be provided free as the department had
missed the 30 day deadline for supplying information under the Act (40 in case
of third party).