Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly hikes application fee to Rs 500, could also reject request for information

*Posted on 24 January 2012*
   *CURRENT AFFAIRS *
RTI ACT

Intent can be reason for denying information to applicant

*Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly hikes application fee to Rs 500, could
also reject request for information *

*Prakhar Jain
*New Delhi

In 2009, the Chhattisgarh government had limited the word count to 150 and
number of subjects to one for every RTI application

In a move that is clearly against the letter and spirit of Right to
Information (RTI) Act, 2005, the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly will now
consider an applicant's intent before providing information. The Assembly
could even reject the application if it is convinced that it has been made
with mala fide intent. This clearly goes against the Act, which says that
an applicant requesting for information shall not be required to give any
reason.
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   ** <http://www.tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Ne241211Ailing.asp>
** <http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws141011RTI.asp>
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The Assembly, which had issued a notification to this effect last month,
also hiked the fee for an RTI application from Rs 10 to Rs 500. Besides,
the applicant will have to pay Rs 15 per copy of any document instead of
the standard fee of Rs 2 charged across the country.

Devendra Verma, Secretary, Legislative Assembly, explains, "Earlier, there
were no (specific) rules for the Legislative Assembly. While framing rules,
we adopted from Uttar Pradesh". The intent clause has been derived, he
says, from the Preamble of the RTI Act.

Dharam Lal Kaushik, Speaker of the house, defends the notification saying
that information regarding questions raised by Assembly members is still
provided at Rs 1 per copy. Higher fee would apply only to information
sought about the Assembly, he says.

Activists who have fought a long battle for introduction of the RTI Act are
appalled. "Imagine a person who buys a kilo of ration for Rs 5 per kg.
He/she will have to sacrifice the budget for 100 kg of ration to just file
an RTI application. It goes against the spirit of the Act," says Shekhar
Singh, whose NGO National Campaign for People's Right to Information
(NCPRI) has been instrumental in introducing the RTI Act. The NGO, which
has termed the fee hike arbitrary and harsh, will issue a press note on the
matter.

Shailesh Gandhi, Central Information Commissioner, couldn't agree more.
"Bad practices set precedents easily. This is disappointing. The intent
clause is disrespectful of the law. The RTI Act mentions a reasonable fee
and Rs 500 is not reasonable. These (legislative) bodies just don't want to
provide information," he told TEHELKA. Gandhi has even shot off letters to
the Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Speaker asking
them to maintain the earlier fee amounts.

This is not the first time that such a step has been initiated in the
state. In 2009, the government limited the word count to 150 and number of
subjects to one for every RTI application. The 'one subject per
application' rule in turn was adopted by the Madhya Pradesh Assembly in
2010.

Nikhil Dey of NCPRI says that "restricting the subject to just one is
illegal as the RTI Act clearly provides for even partial transfer of
application to other public authorities if all the information is not
available with one department".

Prateek Pandey, RTI activist from Chhattisgarh Citizen Initiative, recalls
his experience. "Once, I asked the ex-State Information Commissioner (SIC)
to define 'subject' and he just smiled. If the SIC can't answer that, how
will a Public Information Officer? Everyone interprets it in his own way,"
he says.

The Chhattisgarh Assembly has been feeling the heat of several RTI
applications of late. An Information Commissioner of the state recently had
ruled against the "Speaker's privilege" to deny information in the case of
an applicant seeking audit reports of accounts of the house and RTI
applications received by it. Many legislators have also been in line of
fire due to information obtained under RTI applications last year which
revealed them receiving gifts like microwave ovens, washing machines, etc.
bought in violation of rules by various state departments.

The way ahead is either to accept the Assembly's decision or resort to
legal means. According to Singh, confrontation can be avoided. He gives the
example of Manipur, which had taken a similar decision on RTI applications.
However, when activists wrote to the government expressing concerns, the
application fee was reduced.
*Prakhar Jain is a Correspondent with Tehelka. *