Times of
India: Kannur: Saturday, June 01, 2019.
The
State Information Commission (SIC) has said access fees fixed by the government
or various departments should not be levied from the applicants seeking
information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, as it is against law.
After
the two-day sitting of the Commission here on Thursday, SIC member K L
Vivekanandan directed that the fees levied from the applicant should be those
stipulated in the RTI Act only. He said the Central Information Commission and
the High Court had already made this clear. Fees for access levied from the
applicant should be maximum Rs 2 per A4 size copy and Rs 5 per A3 copy. He said
this while hearing an appeal against the reply from the Vadakara Taluk Office
that Rs 531 should be remitted for the copy of a survey sketch.
Vivekanandan
said the Commission would summon the secretaries of all municipal corporations
in the state, as the corporation officials were reluctant to provide
information in response to applications under the RTI Act relating to their
engineering wings. In many cases they say that the information sought were not
available despite searches. Similar complaints were raised about many grama
panchayats as well, he added.
On
the second day of his two-day sitting, the Commission member disposed 19
appeals. On the first day, 20 cases were disposed.
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