City-based RTI activists pointed out that the rejection of applications has been on a rise since the past month.
Public information officers are rejecting applications filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, forcing people to seek help from RTI activists. City-based RTI activists pointed out that the rejection of applications has been on a rise since the past month.
According to Vikram Simha, an activist, the officers were not accepting the application forms, citing reasons such as the applicant had not paid the prescribed fee of Rs10. “This is not permitted as per the RTI rules. Also, a recent central government order points that no officer can refuse the application on the grounds that the fee was not paid. The officer can realise the fee later,” Simha said. He said the applications were rejected even if there was a minor error in the postal order.
Most citizens are unaware that in the state government departments, the application has to be addressed to the public information officer and in case of the central government, to the accounts officer.
“The applications are also rejected if the applicants pay a higher fee. Rather than returning the excess amount, they reject the applications saying that they do not have an accounts officer to maintain the records,” Simha said.
Another RTI activist, Kalidasa Reddy, stated that his application was also rejected recently by the information officer. He was seeking details regarding the BBMP hoardings.
His application was rejected as the officer demanded a demand draft, rather than initial fee of Rs10 in cash.
“The officer rejected my application stating that only a DD is accepted. For a DD of Rs10 from a nationalised bank, I will be spending Rs50 for the whole process. The officers are also demanding an additional Rs12 citing other charges. When I refused to pay the additional amount, my application was rejected. They also told me that the information I have asked for will include 1000 pages and I will have to pay Rs2,000 for it. But I wanted only a few pages and the official was also not allowing me to go through the documents,’’ he said.
The activists said that the officers were trying to avoid providing information using various methods.
Another RTI activist, Veeresh Bellur, said the applications were being rejected since the officers were not trained and well-versed with the rules. He added that a large number of applications were rejected at the panchayat secretary level.
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