Times of
India: Panaji: Tuesday, May 28, 2019.
Citizens
will no longer have to shell out Rs 51 per page when seeking documents under
Right To Information (RTI) Act pertaining to the revenue department.
An
order passed by the appellate authority and additional collector Dasharath
Redkar in an appeal has ended the controversy surrounding the issue of charging
exorbitant fees for documents sought under the RTI Act.
Redkar
has directed the public information officer (PIO)to refund the excess amount of
Rs 1,911 collected for 39 pages, within 10 days to the applicant.
Appellant
Swapnesh Sherlekar, in his appeal before the appellate authority, stated that
the PIO fraudulently charged him Rs 51 per page of A4 and legal size in
contravention of the RTI Act and Rules.
The
appellate authority stated that Sherlekar should have been charged Rs 2 per
page. During the hearing, the PIO justified his order and produced the February
1, 2018, circular issued by the revenue department that prescribed fees to be
charged while providing copies to the public.
Redkar
in his order stated that the documents sought by Sherlekar were not covered
under rules prescribed by the revenue department for charging separate fees.
“Thus the same records, which are available with PIO and sought under RTI Act,
are outside the ambit of Rule 12 of The Goa Land Revenue (Inspection, Search
and Supply of Copies of Land Records) (Amendment) Rules 2018,” he stated.
“It
is clear that the documents applied by the appellant should not have been
charged the fees as per Rule 12 but should have been charged fees as provided
under Rule 3 of the Goa Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules
2006,” Redkar said.
Sherlekar
had sought information about an application seeking conversion of land from
agricultural to non-agricultural in Moitem village of Bardez for commercial
purpose by Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Ltd under the RTI Act.
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