Moneylife: Mumbai: Friday, January 12, 2018.
In a bizarre
case, a Public Information Officer (PIO) at the Slum Rehabilitation Authority
(SRA) has written to ask an RTI (Right to Information) to pay Rs2 for a single
page document sought by him. The cost of asking him to make this payment was
Rs17, since the letter was sent by speed post. Wouldn’t it have been far better
for the PIO to have sent the document itself? It would have saved additional
postal charges to eventually provide information when the applicant pays up
Rs2. More importantly, it would have reduced the time involved in processing
the request twice over. This reflects the
casual and mindless way in which PIPs are handling queries under Right to
Information (RTI). They seem unaware about the law and uncaring about splurging
taxpayers’ money on unmindful replies and yet, most PIOs will allege that they
are burdened with unnecessary RTI applications.
When asked
for his reaction, Shailesh Gandhi, former Central Information Commissioner and
RTI activist, said, “This (asking for Rs2 by spending over Rs17) is ridiculous
and shows absence of common sense.”
Pertinently
enough, there is already a government circular that specifically asks the PIO
to furnish information free whenevre postal charges are higher than the cost of
copies. What happened in this case is
“absolutely unfair”, says Pune-based activist Vijay Kumbhar, since “postal charges for communication in the said
order are more than the cost of copies of the document. There is one circular
from urban development department that directs the PIOs to provide information
free of cost in cases where postal charges would be more than cost of
photocopies. In this case it appears that the PIO has not used commonsense”.
On 20
December 2017, I had filed an RTI application with SRA, Mumbai seeking details
on slum day hearings conducted in their office.
Another RTI
rule ignored by the Public Information Officer (PIO) of SRA in this case is
that has not bothered to record his name in the reply send on on 5 January
2018. The Maharashtra Government Resolution (GR) of 13 May 2009, makes it
mandatory for PIOs to mention their name and designation while providing
replies under the RTI Act.
RTI activist
Sanjay Shirodkar while agreeing that the PIO was technically right in demanding
Rs2 for supplying information under the RTI feels such incidents highlight
‘arrogance’. “This type of careless attitude and arrogance from PIOs is
increasing day by day. There are reports that Maharashtra government is
planning to ask Rs10 as fee for every page of information provided under the
RTI Act. I feel, it is nothing but an attempt to suppress empowerment provided
to citizens under the RTI Act,” he added.
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