CIC upset with UP govt for not notifying RTI fee.

Deccan Herald: New Delhi; Saturday, June 23, 2012.

The Central Information Commission has expressed its exasperation over the failure of the Uttar Pradesh government to notify rules amended by the Allahabad High Court, reducing the RTI application fees from Rs 500 to Rs 10 as mandated under the transparency law.

CIC Satyananda Mishra though did not issue any direction to the Akhilesh Yadav-led government but wondered as to why it was taking so much time to publish the rules in the gazette.

“Although the High Court has been reminding the state government to publish the rules urgently, it is rather strange that the state government should be taking so much time to publish it in their gazette. We hope that the modified rules would be published soon and would bring relief to information seekers,” Mishra said.

It was during the hearing on an appeal filed by RTI activist Subhash C Agrawal that the CIC came to know that the state government had allegedly been sitting over the proposed amendment on the rules framed by the Allahabad High Court for over two months.

Notably, with the passage of the Right to Information Act, 2005 every public authority was asked to frame their own rules to furnish the replies sought by information seekers.

The Allahabad High Court, however, had fixed Rs 500 instead of Rs 10 as fee for supplying information on each query put by an information seeker.

The Chief Public Information Officer, who appeared before the CIC, submitted that the Allahabad High Court had revisited its rules and the amended rules were pending with the UP government for notification in the gazette.

The matter has been pending for more two months now, he claimed.

The Commission was also told about a circular issued by the department of personnel and training, expecting that all competent authorities would make uniform rules in respect of the application fee under the RTI Act.