Nagpur municipal corporation directed to receive RTI charges at zone offices

Times of India: Nagpur: Thursday, 23 April 2015.

In a big relief to activists as well common man, the Nagpur bench of State Information Commission has directed the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) to receive charges of Right to Information (RTI) Act at its 10 zone offices. The civic body had been forcing RTI applicants to travel up to its head office at Civil Lines for paying charges of Rs2 or more.

RTI activist TH Naidu had lodged a complaint with the commission about the severe inconvenience being faced by the applicants on February 16. Taking cognisance, the commission in a letter dated April 10 to municipal commissioner Shravan Hardikar directed to facilitate the system to receive the charges at zone offices itself.

"NMC has its zone offices at various places in the city. Public Information Officer and First Appellate Authority for RTI applications have been based at the zone offices. But, the applicants were asked to go to NMC's head office at Civil Lines for paying the meagre RTI charges. It was causing serious inconvenience to the applicants. It will be convenient now with the facility being made available at the zone offices," he said.

Naidu told TOI that NMC was not paying proper attention towards the RTI process. "The NMC functions through 10 zone offices for its as well as the convenience of citizens. RTI applications are received by concerned the office. I had sought information about Sonegaon Lake that comes under the Laxmi Nagar zone office. I was asked to pay Rs12 to obtain the information. This would not only cost more than the actual charges but also time to travel up to the head office. Some zone offices are situated 10-15kms from the head office. Fortunately, the State Information Commission took cognisance," he said.

In the same letter, the commission has directed the civic chief to provide information related to Sonegaon Lake to Naidu free of cost due to delay in the process. Naidu had submitted RTI application on January 7 and was given the letter to pay charges on February 7. As per RTI Act, the applicant has to be given letter directing to pay charges within 30 days. Therefore, directives have been given to deputy engineer of Pench Project Cell Mohammed Israil to provide information to Naidu without taking any charges.