State chief information commissioner, Vilas Patil last week struck down charges for certification, conveyance and inspection other than those specified under the RTI Act that some BMC departments were charging from RTI applicants.
Now, seeking information under the RTI Act will become cheaper. Maharashtra state chief information commissioner, Vilas Patil last week struck down charges for certification, conveyance and inspection other than those specified under the RTI Act that some BMC departments were charging from RTI applicants.
An earlier order which dealt with the issue partially had stated that all ‘readily available’ information has to be provided at the Rs2 for A3 and A4 size papers. Despite this, two BMC departments — Building Proposal and Assessor and Collector — were taking money from applicants for expenses that are to be borne by the BMC.
These departments cited the BMC rules and their schedule of charges that existed prior to the Act. The RTI Act, however, overrides all other rules and any rules formed are only subservient to the main Act. Thus, the BMC departments should have charged RTI applicants as per the RTI Act and not as per their previous schedule of charges.
Patil stated that there should be no conveyance or certification charges for providing information. “What is surprising is that there is no circular for them (BMC) charging conveyance. RTI is work rule,” said Bhaskar Prabhu, an intervener in the case.
As per the RTI Act, copies of documents that are larger than an A3 or A4 sheet (like a survey map) will be charged as per the actual cost of photocopying the document, plus postal charges.
BMC departments were charging certification charges at Rs50 per page. Certified copies were earlier needed to be provided in courts. In its order, the commission referred to the Evidence Act, 1872 and stated: During those times time certified copies had to be handwritten and checked. There is no such work now as Xerox machines have long come. It is assumed that no changes will be made while Xeroxing the documents and hence no extra labour is required. Authentic information is given under RTI and so there is no need for such (certification) charges.”
Inspection of documents, free for the first hour and then Rs5 for every 15 minutes under the RTI Act, was being charged at the rate of Rs230 in case of inspection of each property for one year as per scheduled charges.
Officers arguing the case said that they were obeying their seniors who were responsible for levying charges. The commissioner had called senior officers including additional the municipal commissioner, but none turned up.
In his order, a peeved information commissioner wrote to the municipal commissioner saying that the municipal officers had not understood the seriousness of this issue. “They have been rude, arrogant and have shown disrespect to the notices of the commission. They seem to be having little knowledge of the status of the commission and the state chief commissioner. As per Section 18 (3) of the civil procedure code, a warrant for their appearance can also be issued. Kindly explain this to the officials so that next time they are present.”
The information commissioner also asked the municipal commissioner to conduct a meeting of all his department and officials in order to have a uniform rate system for providing information under the RTI Act.
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