Fee Structure under RTI Fee Rules, 2012

 

Article

Fee Structure under RTI Fee Rules, 2012

The Right to Information Act, 2005 sets out practical regime to seek information, which has been recognized as a fundamental right. It promotes the concept of transparency and accountability in the working of public authorities.

It is a very powerful tool in the hands of the citizens to carry out social audit of the performance of government. The Act and rules framed there under lay down the process and procedure to secure access to information under the control of public authorities’ right from Panchayat to office of the President of India.

The Act provides that each application for information filed under the RTI Act has to be accompanied by fee, failing which it may not be treated as RTI application.

 

Powers to make Fee Rules: As per Section 27 & 28 of the RTI Act, 2005 the appropriate Governments and Competent Authorities may make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act with regard to:

    

i.      the cost of the medium or print cost price of the materials to be disseminated under sub-section (4) of section 4;

ii.    the application fee payable under sub-section (1) of section 6;

iii.   the additional fee payable under sub-sections (1) and (5) of section 7;

 

Accordingly, the central government, the state governments and Competent Authorities have formulated their respective Fee Rules. The Supreme Court has ruled that the application fee should not be more than rupees fifty. The proviso to section 7(5) of the Act also provides that the fee fixed should be reasonable.

 

Central government Fee Rules: The central government had earlier issued Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005. It has come up with new Right to Information Rules, 2012  which not only prescribe the Fee and additional fee but also takes care of other appeal related aspects.

 

Application Fee: The central government has not enhanced the application fee and has kept it at earlier fee of rupees ten. It is applicable to all organisations and institutions of Government of India and the Union territories. 

 

Additional Fees for providing information: The Act further provides that the government may seek additional fee for providing information under sub-section (4) of Section 4 and sub-sections (I) and (5) of Section 7 of the Act. Accordingly the following fee has been prescribed by the central government:

 

Application Fee                   Rs 10/-

Additional Page                   Rs 2/ per page A-4 or A-3

Large size paper                  Actual Charges

Sample or Model                 Actual cost

Inspection of records           First Hour no fee; Subsequently Rs 5/- per hour    

Floppy/Diskette                   Rs 50/-

Postal Charges                     If it exceeds Rs 50/- the excess amount will be charged

Fee for public authorities of State governments, Supreme Court & Hugh Courts, Parliament and Assemblies etc. may be pre-checked from their websites.

No fee for BPL: No application fee or additional fee shall be charged from any person who, is below poverty line. However, he/she has to provide a copy of the certificate issued by the appropriate Government in this regard, along with the application.

Anecdote: During an interaction with the school children one of the students belonging to BPL said 'though I am BPL I shall prefer to pay a fee of Rs. 10/- .' On the contrary a college student belonging to a well to do family said he is  a student without any earning, so he cant' afford to pay the small fee. What a paradox. 

 

Mode of Payment of fee: The fees may be paid in any of the following manner:—

 

i    in cash, to the public authority or to the Central Assistant Public Information Officer of the public authority, as the case may be, against a proper receipt; or

ii     by demand draft or bankers cheque or Indian Postal Order payable to the Accounts Officer of the public authority; or

iii    by electronic means to the Accounts Officer of the public authority, if facility for receiving fees through electronic means is available with the public authority.

iv    by e-IPO

v      by Credit/Debit Card in case of online submission of application

 

Review of further fee: The Central/State Public Information Officer shall send an intimation to the person making the request giving-the details of further fees representing the cost of providing the information as determined by him, together with the calculations made to arrive at the amount in accordance with fee prescribed, requesting him to deposit that fees.  The applicant may seek a review where such a decision is taken to seek further fee representing the cost of providing the information.

The period intervening between the dispatch of the said intimation and payment of fees shall be excluded for the purpose of calculating the period of thirty days referred to in that sub-section

Limit of Questions: The RTI Rules, 2012 provide that ordinarily an application shall not contain more than five hundred words, excluding annexure, containing address of the Central Public Information Officer and that of the applicant. However, no application can be rejected only on the ground that it contains more than five hundred words.

In case of delay information to be provided free of charge: As per section 7(6) of the Act the person making request for the information shall be provided the information free of charge where a public authority fails to comply with the time limits specified in section 7(1).

FAQs

Q.1 Can currency note for fee be sent by post?

Ans.1 No it is not permissible.

Q.2 In case the information or reply is not sent within prescribed can one claim refund of additional fee?

Ans. Yes