[HumJanenge] Salient features of Central RTI Rules, 2012, Not applicable for Public Authorities under State Govts including Odisha

Salient features of  Central RTI Rules, 2012

Central RTI Rules, 2012 is not applicable for Public Authorities under State Governments including Odisha

Dear friends

On dated 31.8.12, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and pension in Govt. of India, through Gazette Notification has framed Central RTI Rules, 2012 for effective implementation of RTI Act.  The said Rule is only applicable for Public Authorities coming under Central Govt.   ( Rules attached) . Some salient features of Central Rules are as follows.

a.       An application under section 6(1) of the RTI Act  shall be accompanied by a fee of rupees of ten not contain more than five hundred words, excluding annexure, containing address of central public information officer and that of the applicant. Provided that no application shall be rejected only on the  ground that it contains more than five hundred pages. (Rule-3)

b.      Fees for providing information under section 4(4) and sub-section 1 and 5 of section 7 of the RTI Act. ( Rule-4)

a.       Rupees two per each page in A-3 or smaller size paper

b.      Actual cost  or price  of a photocopy in large size paper

c.       Actual cost or price  for samples or models

d.      Rupees fifty per diskette or floppy

e.      Price fixed for a publication or rupees two per page of photocopy from extracts from  the put

f.        No fee for inspection  of records for the first hour of inspection  and a fee of rupees for each  or fraction thereof;

g.       So much of postal charge involved in supply of information that exceeds fifty.

 

c.       No fee under rule-3 and rule- 4 shall be charged  from the any person  who is below poverty line provided  a copy of  the certificate issued by the appropriate Government in this regard is submitted along with the application. ( Rule-5) 

d.      Mode of payment of fee shall be  in cash, by demand draft or banker's cheque or  Indian Postal order,  payable to Account Officer of the public authority by electronics means to public authority, if facility for receiving fees through electronic fees is available with public authority (rule-6)

 

Orissa RTI Rules is still absurd, illegitimate and ultravires  to the RTI Act. Some of the absurd and ultravires provisions of Orissa Rules is as follows. Despite massive Civil society opposition and protests from RTI Activists in the state since 2005,  worthless Odisha bureaucracy is hellbent to continue with said Rule , while other  State Govt. and Central Govt. have improved  their rules  for effective implementation of RTI Act.

 

                Absurd, Anti-people and illegal provisions of Orissa RTI Rules 2005

A.      Provision for Proof  of Citizenship - illegal

Rule-2 (e) 'Identity'- The given definition which requires an applicant to show the evidence of his 'citizenship like an electoral photo identity card, a passport or any other document which can satisfy the authority about the citizenship of the person'  at the time of submission of RTI Application needs to be altogether abolished, as it is ultra vires the parent Act, which under Section  6(2) says inter alia that a citizen is not required to give 'any other personal details except those that may be necessary for contacting him'.

B.       Compulsory Application Form- illegal

The State Govt. has imposed a compulsory application Form (Form-A), which requires to be filled up by an RTI applicant while seeking for information. The said lengthy 11-column Form-A requires the copy of Voter's Card or Passport to be attached as a proof of citizenship. This provision not only deprives the citizens below 18 years of their right to make an application for information, but also discloses personal details like name of father/spouse, permanent address, age and sex etc. (as mentioned in the voter card/passport) in contravention of the Section  6(2) of the Act.  Further, it is seen that it has become very difficult on the part of the common people to fill it up. So this Form needs to be withdrawn, and the people should be allowed to apply in their own manner as is the practice at Central level and in rest od States.

C.      Denial of Application and Information through Email- illegal

Though Section 6(1) of RTI Act 2005 and Rule 4(1) of Orissa RTI Rules 2005 provide for submission of RTI application and dispatch of information implied therein, not a single public authority under the control of Government of Odisha has been able to operationalise such a provision, leading to denial of right to information to a vast bulk of citizens in and outside the State. It needs to be remedied forthwith. 

 

D.   Compulsory Forms for 1st & 2nd Appeals and Appeal fees- illegal

The imposition of compulsory Forms, Form-D and Form-E along with Appeal fees of Rs.20/- and Rs.25/- respectively to be paid through Court Fee Stamps is simply ultra vires Section 27(2) of the parent Act, and therefore needs to be withdrawn and replaced by a provision declaring no form or fees for any appeal to be made under the Act.

      E.      Fees collected from BPL families against cost of information- illegal

In Odisha, the PIO including those of Odisha Information Commission are collecting  fees towards cost of information from the BPL people, in naked contravention of Section 7(5) of RTI Act. As per a study undertaken by PRIA in 2008 a good number of BPL people who initially submitted the RTI applications to various offices in Odisha didn't collect the information as they were asked to pay the fees, which they couldn't afford. So the illegal practice of collecting information fees from the BPL people in Odisha must be stopped forthwith.

F.       Form-B (letter of intimation)- illegal

The Form-B (PIO's letter of intimation to the applicant) is illegal, since it doesn't contain, as it should under Section 7(3) of the Act, any space for break-up of the total fees demanded and the particulars of first appellate authority before whom the applicant, if aggrieved by the decision of PIO, may lodge an appeal within the time-limit to be specified therein. Thus Form-B needs to be redesigned as per the mandate of the Act.

G.     Form-C (letter of rejection)- illegal

The Form-C prescribed under Orissa RTI Rules 2005 is out and out illegal for it cites some arbitrary grounds for rejection of an Application falling outside the purview of the Act, such as, 'Your Application is not complete in all respects', 'Your identity is not satisfactory', 'The information is available in published material available to Public', 'The information as sought for by you is available in our Website'   and 'For any other reason'. The Act has stipulated clearly the possible grounds for rejecting an application fully or partially, such as those covered under Sections 8, 9, 10, 11 and 24 only. The Form-C therefore needs be withdrawn to honor the letter and spirit of Act.

H.     Absurd language in Orissa RTI Rules 2005- illegal

 Rule 2(1-c) of Orissa RTI Rules 2005, reads, "'fee' means amount payable by the applicant for obtaining any information under the provisions of sub-section (1) of Section 6 and sub-sections (1) and (5) of Section 5 excluding the cost of information". It conveys no meaning and makes a mockery of the entire set of the above Rules par excellence.

I.        Rule- 4: Prohibitive Modes of fees payment- illegal  

The Schedule to Orissa RTI Amendment Rules 2006 stipulates the Fees/Amount to be charged in respect of application fees, cost of information fees and appeal fees. Apart from the fact that the provision of Appeal Fees is altogether illegal as already mentioned above, the modes of payment of application fees are only cash or treasury-challan, and that of fees towards information only cash. From the experience of nearly six and half years of RTI in the State, it has been made clear that not only the people in the State find it extremely hard to make use of such restrictive modes of payment, but the citizens outside the State find it impossible of use. The question arises, while IPO is the standard mode of payment for all purposes at Central level and in rest of the States, why shouldn't it be prescribed under Orissa RTI Rules besides other possible modes of payment like Money Order, Demand Draft, Banker's Cheque, Electronic Payment? 

J.        Miscellaneous violations of law-

The Speaker of Odisha Legislative Assembly has not complied with the mandate of notifying its separate RTI Rules under Section 28 or for making suo motu disclosures under Section 4(1b) of the Act. The Governor of Odisha, though a Competent Authority in respect of Constitutional bodies like Odisha Election Commission, Odisha Finance Commission and Odisha Tribal Advisory Body under Section 2(e-iv) has not as yet complied with his duty to notify the separate RTI Rules for such bodies, nor has made any suo motu disclosures as required under Section 4(1b) of the Act. The Governor has also failed to fulfill his mandatory obligation under Section 17 to take punitive action against the Information Commissioners, against whom several citizens have lodged complaints on the grounds of inefficiency, corruption and moral turpitude. The Annual Reports on the state of RTI as prepared by the Odisha Information Commission, though filled with false, fictitious, irrelevant and self-congratulatory stuff, have been straightaway lain on the floor of the Assembly, without any corrective exercise undertaken by the nodal department of I&PR, in contravention of Section 25 of the Act. The above mentioned Constitutional authorities need to make do their performance deficit forthwith to honor the letter and spirit of RTI Act 2005.

Thanks

Pradip Pradhan

M-99378-43482

Date-14.8.12

Prepared  and circulated  by  Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan, Plot No.-316, Sailashree Vihar, Post-C.S.Pur, Bhubaneswar. E-mail- odishasoochanaadhikar@gmail.com. M-99378-43482 on 29.4.2012

 

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