| Friends,
There is a provision for Fee to obtain any information under section 6(1) of the RTI Act. Similarly section 7 (5) of the Act prescribes for payment of such fee as prescribed. But proviso to section 7(5) says that the fees shall be reasonable. The Central Government, the Supreme Court and most of the State governments formulated their Regulation of Fee and Cost Rules where reasonable fees were prescribed. The Central government and UP government made an application fee of rupees ten, rupees two for each page (in A-4 or A-3 size paper) and actual charge or cost price of a copy in larger size paper, models, diskette or floppy rupees etc. But the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha made the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Sachivalaya Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2007 of which Rule 4(6), 4(7), 5, 6 and 7 seem to be blatantly against the spirit of the RTI Act. While the application fee is fixed at rupees five hundred, fee for par page information in A-4 or A-3 size paper is rupees fifteen for each page and additional charge of Rs 15 along with actual charge of a copy in larger size paper, models, diskette or floppy rupees etc. These fees do not seem to be reasonable in any way as is expected under section 7(5) of the RTI Act.
Similarly, Rule 4 (6) says that no information shall be given under the RTI Act if the contents of the letter are against the dignity and respect of the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha and Rule 4(7) says that the information will not be given if it seems that the intentions of the information seeker are not good/ proper. These two issues have no reference and provisions in the RTI Act 2005 under whose provisions these Rules have been framed by the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha. The act of seeking information under the RTI Act and the conduct of demeaning the respect of the Vidhan Sabha are two entirely different things. The Vidhan Sabha has enough provisions under the Constitution and subsequent Rules framed in this regards to punish anyone who shows disrespect to the Vidhan Sabha, yet to club it with the RTI Act does not seem to make sense and is against the basic parameters and content of the Act. Good and bad intent of the applicant is highly subjective and can be used by the public authority to deny information. All these facts were brought to the notice of the Principal Secretary of the UP Vidhan Sabha and having got no response, I have now filed a Writ Petition under Article 226 in the Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench for suitable remedies.
Dr Nutan Thakur,
Convener,
National RTI Forum,
Lucknow
# 94155-34525 |
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