Livemint: New Delhi: Wednesday, May
18, 2016.
For a mere
Rs.47, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) refused to reply to an RTI (right to
information) application for over seven months. That’s the difference between
the cost under the NGT rules and that under RTI rules of copying a nine-page
document that was sought under RTI.
The Central
Information Commission (CIC) has finally cracked the whip, asking NGT’s
information officer not to charge any information seeker more than what is
prescribed under the Right to Information Act, 2005 and provide the information
sought in the present case for free.
The CIC
decision came on an appeal filed by applicant Girish Mohan Gupta, who in
September 2015 had sought a copy of a January 2015 NGT order by which the
tribunal had banned parking of cars on tarred roads in Delhi.
The order
which was sought by Gupta was nine pages long and should have cost him Rs.18
under the RTI Act and Rs.65 under the NGT rules.
But NGT’s
public information officer denied the information, quoting NGT rules that
information cannot be provided unless the appellant pleads himself as party to
the case. The officer also contended that Gupta needs to pay Rs.20 as basic fee
and Rs.5 per page of the order, as per NGT Rules, and refused to give copies at
Rs.2 per page, the rate prescribed under the RTI Act and rules.
However,
under the RTI Act and rules, a public authority cannot charge more than the
prescribed cost of copying documents fixed at Rs.2 per page.
During the
hearing at CIC, it was also revealed that the NGT is receiving several RTI
applications, seeking copies of documents including judgments and inspection of
files, which the tribunal’s Registrar General and Assistant Registrar are
refusing as they are not parties or are demanding more fee.
“The
Commission finds in spite of request letters from CPIO to give copies, the
registrar and his assistants are refusing and insisting on payment of higher
fees than prescribed under RTI Act & Rules,” said information commissioner
M. Sridhar Acharyulu in his order on 29 April.
Acharyulu
also held NGT’s assistant registrar S.S. Mishra to be “obstructing the delivery
of information, refusing the process under RTI Act” and directed him to show
cause why maximum penalty should not be imposed against him and recommend
disciplinary action against him for repeated breaching of RTI Act.
The
Commission directed Mishra to provide a certified copy of the order “free of
cost” because the information was not furnished within time and directed “here
after not to charge higher fees but charge only as per RTI Act & Rules”.
The
Commission also directed NGT to “immediately” alter the rules regarding fee for
furnishing documents under Sections 3 and 4 to Section 7 of RTI Act, not
charging more than Rs.2 per page.
Acharyulu
also directed NGT to train all its officers to understand and implement the RTI
Act, which will prevail over all other legislations.
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