Dear Mr Roy I read your mails posted on rti board, with interest and try to grasp the finer points of interpretation of various provisions of RTI Act. I find these to be quite interesting & useful.
As regards your observation regarding fee for filing appeal, I hold a different point of view It may not be correct or proper to say that there is no provision for filing an Appeal under RTI. As per Section 27 of the Act, the power to make rules for carrying out the provisions of the Act has been delegated to the appropriate government (which too has been defined under Sec 2). While Sec 27(2)(a, b & c) require prescribing of fee for (a) charges payable for the information requisitioned and (b) fee payable for filing application, Section 27(2)(d) requires for prescribing the procedure to be followed for filing appeals. Section 19(10) which bears a reference in Sec 27(2)(d) of the Act, makes it mandatory for the SIC / CIC as the case may be, to follow the procedure so prescribed. It is in pursuit of the provisions of Section 27 that various Governments (State & Central) have framed rules for carrying out the provisions of RTI Act, and this includes the fee payable for filing of appeal(s). Sections 6(1) and 7(1&5) referred to by you and which are also quoted / referred under Sec 27(2)(b&c) of the Act, only state that an RTI application should be made accompanying fee as may be prescribed (by appropriate government).In my view, if a particular Government has prescribed a fee for filing appeal and this has been duly notified in accordance with the procedure laid down, it can not be faulted and/or questioned. In Law, it may not always be proper to read and quote a particular section in isolation and it needs to be read in conjunction with provisions of other sections as may be contained in that Act. I hope, I have made my point clear S K NANGIA --- On Tue, 11/8/09, sroy1947 <[email protected]> wrote: From: sroy1947 <[email protected]> Subject: [rti_india] Fees for First Appeal are OK, decides CIC To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, 11 August, 2009, 11:08 AM http://cic.gov. in/CIC-Orders/ WB-07082009- 02.pdf "Sub sec. (1) of Sec. 6 speaks of fees to be prescribed to accompany the request made by a person who desires to obtain information to a CPIO or CAPIO. Similarly u/s 7(1) an application made u/s 6 is to be responded on payment of the fee prescribed. There is indeed no fee mandated in the law for appeal u/s 19 (1) or (3). However u/s 28(2) (iv) the Competent Authority has the discretion to provide for any other matter which is not only required to be, but may be prescribed, as underlined by us in the quote above. In this case, therefore, the High Court of Delhi is well within its authority to prescribe such a fee, keeping in mind only the requirement of proviso to Sub-Section (5) of Sec 7.that the fee is reasonable inasmuch as it may be in reference to Sec 6 (1) or sub-sections (1) and (5) of Sec 7." Looking for local information? Find it on Yahoo! Local http://in.local.yahoo.com/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
