Times of India: Aurangabad: Saturday, August 12, 2017.
The Centre
and the state government are not on the same page as far as the levy of goods
and services tax (GST) for online submission of queries under the Right to
Information (RTI) Act is concerned.
While the
Centre has spared online applicants of GST on the Rs 10 fee, the state
government has applied both the central and state GST in the 5% slab. Those
applying under the RTI Act on the state's portal, https://rtionline.maharashtra.gov.in,
have to pay 90 paise over the Rs 10 fee.
This
correspondent filed an online RTI application on the state government portal
and was charged 45 paise each for state and central GST on the Rs 10 fee, apart
from Rs 5 as portal fee.
RTI expert
Vijay Kumbhar said, "Even if the amount of 90 paise per application looks
meagre, the total amount generated by levying both CGST and SGST is huge
considering the heavy inflow of applications through the online portal in
Maharashtra."
Vivek
Velankar, another RTI resource person, said the disparity in the levy at the
Centre and the state indicates how confused the government machinery is about
the implementation.
Admitting the
disparity in the GST levy, state general administration department
undersecretary Vishwambhari Khade said efforts would be made to make tax-free
the online filing of RTI applications through the state portal.
"The
Centre is learnt to have waived off GST on online filing of RTI by channelizing
talks through the RBI. The central RTI portal has roped in a nationalised bank
for the online payment gateway. We will speak with the concerned central and
state agencies to offer relief to RTI applicants," she said. Surendra
Kumar Mankoskar, additional commissioner, central GST, Pune zone, said,
"There is no GST on any statutory payment, be it for RTI or payment of
fees for getting a licence."
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