Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Uttarakhand: Municipal Corporation asks RTI applicant to pay Rs 1.49 lakh as cost of printouts

We For News: Uttarakhand: Tuesday, September 18, 2018.
Haldwani Municipal Corporation asked an RTI Right to Information applicant to pay Rs 1.49 lakhs as the cost of more than 73,000 printouts.
The Activist identified as Hemant Gaunia, had filed an application under the RTI Act on August 28, to seek information about municipal tax defaulters details and action taken by the civic authorities against them.
Through his RTI, Gaunia also sought details about how many shopkeepers have not paid rentals to the municipal corporation and what action had been taken.
According to Hindustan report, in response to the application on September 7, the corporation asked him to pay an amount of Rs 1,47,938 for the printing of around  73,969 pages, keeping the rate at Rs 2 per page.
“I was shocked at the exorbitant amount asked for; I think that this is a ploy to dissuade me from seeking any information in future,” Gauniya told the newspaper.
The activist further said he would not able to pay such amount for the prinouts.
“Presently there is no provision for giving information in pen drive or CD; digitised data is not available now,”  Guaniya added.