Re: [HumJanenge] COMMENTS / OBJECTIONS / SUGGESTIONS : ref:PN/DoPT/OM/2010/RTI/AAA-0000-013

Sarabjit, do u think their intention will change?

On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 8:47 PM, Sarbajit Roy <sroy.mb@gmail.com> wrote:

To:
The Government of India, by
Shri R.K.Girdhar
Under-Secretary/RTI
Department of Personnel and Training, North Block
New Delhi 110011

1) CONFIDENTIAL,
2) SECRET,
3) My Intellectual property,
4) Not to be disclosed to any unauthorised person,
5) Not to be disclosed to any private person whatsoever,
6) Not to be disclosed to Prime Minister or his office,
7) Not to be disclosed to National Advisory Council,
8) Not to be disclosed under Right to Information except to myself,

BY EMAIL:

Date:  21-December-2010
Your Ref: OM dated 10.12.2010 in File No.1/35/2008-IR (draft RTI Rules)
Our Ref:  PN/DoPT/OM/2010/RTI/AAA-0000-013
Subject Objections and/or Suggestions to the amendments proposed

Sir,

I refer to the above citations and your subject OM. I am caused to submit the following objection(s) and/or suggestion(s) to the same.
This is separate, distinct and without prejudice to other objections I may submit from time to time within the period allowed..

http://persmin.gov.in/WriteReadData/RTI/RTI_rules_01122010-1.pdf

I generally OBJECT to the following rule proposed

"6. Payment of fee: Fee under these rules shall be paid by way of:
(a) cash, to the public authority or to the Central Assistant Public Information
Officer of the public authority , as the case may be, against proper receipt; or
(b) demand draft or bankers cheque or Indian Postal Order payable to the
Accounts Officer of the public authority; or
(c) electronic means to the Accounts Officer of the public authority, if facility
for receiving fee through electronic means is available with the public
authority:
Provided that a public authority may accept fee by any other mode of
payment."

My specific OBJECTIONS with REASONS and SUGGESTIONS are listed below:

1) BECAUSE there is no power conferred by the Act for DoPT/MoP to prescribe Rules specifying the MODE of payment of fees for RTI process. I say that these fall in the allocated business of other Departments / Minstries of Government either by enactments of law or by allocation of business rules.

2) BECAUSE there is no provision of the RTI Act which requires or permits mode of payment of fee to be prescribed. It is pertinent that the RTI Act only enables the appropriate Govt to prescribe the "fee". This in my view does not extend to mode of payment into Government accounts.

3) BECAUSE it is wrong to presume / assume that the CAPIO is always empowered to receive cash and issue a receipt for it. Neither does this rule empower them to do so. I am also concerned that the other modes such as Draft, LPO, IPO etc impose an additional and often unreasonable transaction / impact cost on the applicants beyond the fee prescribed.

4) BECAUSE very often CAPIOs have not been appointed per the mandate of the RTI Act. The Commission being a case in point and your own Ministry being another. In passing I mention that I strongly dispute that the CAPIOs of the Postal Department can be legally designated as CAPIOs for other Central Ministries / Departments.

5) BECAUSE section 6(1) of the RTI Act requires the application fee to accompany the request. This necessarily means that the fee must either be permanently affixed to the RTI request, as is done with court fee stamps or non-judicial papers, or be part of an electronic e-payment gateway hardcoded to the e-request form. Hence I say that the fee payment modes proposed do not meet the mandate of the Act and are vires of the Act.

6) BECAUSE section 6(1) of the RTI Act empowers citizens to file requests through electronic means. There is no restriction in the Act about the electronic means which may be used by citizens to file requests. At the same time the said clause requires a fee (which may optionally be prescribed) to accompany the request. Hence I say that the statutory right of the citizen to submit an e-request cannot be taken away by subordinate legislation when a public authority lacks an e-payment gateway or suchlike. I would require clarity on application fee accompaniment for citizens who wish to use "fax" (ie facsmile) to submit their requests or e-mail.

7) BECAUSE by conceding that public authorities may accept fees by any mode of payments you are implicitly accepting that it is not possible or legal to prescribe the mode of fee payment, and that it is an arbitrary and/or discretionary matter to be negotiated between the public authority and the applicants.

Accordingly I SUGGEST that this RTI rule for fee payment modes is completely redrafted to address all my concerns / grievances. As a public spirited citizen I am ever at your disposal to assist you on behalf of the demand side. I strongly suggest that adhesive RTI stamps are sold through the post offices.

NB:  As the legal questions involved for these Rules are complex, I am formally requesting an opportunity of personal hearing for this before the competent authority. I am also  formally requesting that the opinion of the Law Department.Ministry be obtained on my various objections / suggestions.

Submitted in my individual capacity by

Er. Sarbajit Roy
B-59 Defence Colony
New Delhi 110024
Tel : 09311448069
email ID: "sroy.mb@gmail.com"

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