Times of India: Panaji: Friday, July 14, 2017.
A public
information officer (PIO) must provide information in the form of certified
copies if the RTI applicant has made such a request, the Goa state information
commission has held.
The
commission ordered the PIO of the South Goa planning and development authority,
Margao, to issue duly certified copies of outline development plans (ODPs)
under the Right to Information Act, 2005, and also furnish a list of
alterations and minor changes in the plans to an RTI applicant.
Madonna
Almeida asked for the outline development plans including certified copies of
the ODP presently in force. The PIO informed her that the authority prepared
two ODPs for Margao and Ponda and said they could be obtained on payment of Rs
2,000 per plan.
Almeida
subsequently paid the total amount of Rs 4,000 for the plans. The PIO provided
her with photocopies and raised objection to certifying the information
furnished, stating that according to him, the RTI Act doesn't provide for all
information to be certified.
The
commission referred to Section 7(9) of the RTI Act, which states that
information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought
unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority
concerned or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record
in question.
Chief
information commissioner Prashant Tendolkar held that such certification of
records doesn't divert the resources nor affect the safety or preservation of
records and doesn't cast any burden on the PIO as it neither warrants the
authenticity of the originals nor veracity of its contents.
'In case the
seeker seeks the information in the form of simple copies, they should be
provided in the said form. In case his/her requirement is in the form of
certified copies, the simple thing required from the PIO is certification of
such copies indicating that they are from the records and that they are
dispensed by him in discharge of his duties as a PIO,' the order stated.
The RTI Act
states that information shall be provided in the form in which it is sought
unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the authority or be
detrimental to the safety of the record in question.