The
Hindu: Kannur: Friday, May 31, 2019.
The
State Information Commission (SIC) has ordered that levying access fee fixed by
the government or various departments from applicants seeking information under
the Right to Information Act is against law.
SIC
member K.L. Vivekanandan directed that the fee to be levied from the applicant
should be those stipulated in the RTI Act. The Central Information Commission
and the High Court had made this matter clear, he added. Fee for access that
could be legally levied from the applicant is maximum Rs.2 per A4 size copy and
Rs.5 per A3 copy. He said that the full commission of the SIC had taken a
decision on this and informed the Public Administration Department and the
Chief Secretary.
He
said this while hearing on an appeal against the reply from the Vadakara Taluk
Office that Rs.531 be remitted for a copy of a survey sketch.
Mr.
Vivekanandan also said that the SIC had decided to summon secretaries of all
municipal corporations in the State.
He
said that it had been brought to the commission’s notice that corporation
officials were showing reluctance to provide information in response to
applications under the RTI Act relating to their engineering wings. In most
cases, the applicants were given replies saying that information sought is not
available despite searches. Such complaints were also raised about many grama
panchayats, he added.
On
the second day of his two-day sitting on Thursday, the SIC member disposed 19
appeals. Disposal of one case was postponed because of the absence of the
appellant.
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