GreaterKashmir.com: Srinagar: Thursday, February 07, 2013.
Throwing the
well-established norms to winds, the Agriculture Department has charged extra
fee from an applicant on account of Xerox copies of the information he had
sought under the Right to Information Act-2009. The violation has surfaced at a
time when the state government is making tall claims on strengthening the
legislation.
Despite the
rules making it clear that Rs 2 should be charged for each page, created or
copied, the Public Information Officer at the Directorate of Agriculture
Kashmir has charged Rs 10 per page from an information-seeker, Ghulam Rasool
without assigning any reasons thereof.
According to
details, the PIO vide letter No SSO-PIO- 2012/13/145-147 dated 23-01-2013 asked
the applicant to deposit Rs 1440 for 144 pages. The applicant, as per the
letter, deposited the amount.
When the
applicant came to know that he has been charged extra amount, he sought its
refund through a representative. But while the PIO refused to return the extra
amount, he failed to send the information to the applicant to his home address
as had been directed by the Agriculture Production Department, Civil
Secretariat Jammu, where the application had been initially filed.
In blatant
violation of the rules, the PIO sought ‘personal appearance’ of the application
for taking the documents.
Ideally, the
applicant has to pay Rs 288 only for 144 pages as against Rs 1440.
The applicant
said it clearly shows that the PIOs are not serious in implementing the RTI Act
in letter and spirit. “This will mar the essence of the important legislation,”
he said, urging the Chief Information Commissioner GR Sufi to take a note of
the violation and act against the PIO.
When
contacted, the PIO of the Agriculture Department refused to comment on the
issue. “I cannot say anything this time,” he said.
Pertinently
Rule 4 (a) of the RTI Rules-2012 says that Rs two should be charged for each
page (in A4 or A-3 size paper) created or copied.
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