Mumbai: Activist seeks info from IMD, asked to pay GST

Times of India: Mumbai: Thursday, February 08, 2018.

A city-based activist who had filed a Right to Information (RTI) query in a bid to understand the accuracy of the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) warnings and alerts was asked to pay Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the fees by Mumbai IMD's chief public information officer (CPIO).

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has now issued a show-cause notice to the CPIO for including GST in the fees and asking the activist to pay in advance for furnishing information under the RTI Act.

In the order passed on February 5, CIC M Sridhar Acharyulu held that demanding GST was not only illegal, but also unreasonable.

In the three-page order, Acharyulu observed, "Such an imposition of (Goods and Services) tax is not legally supported. A public authority cannot quote a price for the information, treating it as goods or service of saleable nature."

RTI activist Chetan Kothari had filed a query on September 9, 2017 seeking details of all warnings/red alerts issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the reason of such warning/alerts for heavy rain, earthquake, cyclone, storm, etc, the place for which it was issued, and whether it turned to be true or false.

"When I sought the information, CPIO Bishwombhar first argued that the application was incomplete. When I cleared my position through e-mail, on November 2, 2017 he asked me to deposit Rs 5,808, including Rs 886 GST charges in advance, as the information was voluminous in nature. I was shocked when I was asked to deposit GST as it never fell in the ambit of either goods or services," said Kothari, who challenged this in his first appeal. It was summarily rejected, after which he decided to file the second appeal.

"Besides, giving information is not even a service; being transparent is the inherent duty of a public authority and the CPIO can only collect the cost of copying charges, so that the government exchequer is not affected. Therefore, the demand of GST charges made by the CPIO is illegal and unreasonable," the order stated.

The commission issued a notice to the CPIO and asked why maximum penalty should not be imposed on him for not furnishing the information within the prescribed timeline and for demanding GST charges from the appellant. The CPIO's response has been sought by March 5, when the matter will be next heard.