Cuttack, July 12: A public interest litigation seeking harmonisation of fees charged under the Orissa High Court's RTI rules and the parent Right to Information Act is yet to be listed before the "appropriate bench" since the Chief Justice excused himself from the case on June 22.
The division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice B.R. Sarangi expressed unwillingness to hear the plea as the Chief Justice was the competent authority in the case of high court for RTI rules.
A competent authority is a person who has the legally delegated or invested authority, capacity or power to perform the designated function relating to governance of the RTI rules. "List this matter before the appropriate bench," the bench had said in its order.
The petition was listed before the single-judge bench of Justice S.C. Parija on July 1. But, Justice Parija ordered to list the matter before any division bench as it was a PIL.
Sanjib Kumar Patry, 41, who is in transport business, has filed the PIL. The petition highlights the inconsistency between Orissa High Court's RTI rules and the parent Right to Information Act 2005.
Under the Orissa High Court Right to Information Rule 2005, non-judicial stamp is the only mode of payment to access information.
While Rs 10 is demanded as fee per form to access information, Rs 10 is again collected as application fee per application. It prescribes payment of Rs 10 towards application fees in the shape of non-judicial stamp and Rs 2 in shape of non-judicial stamp for each sheet of paper for providing information.
The provisions, the petition said, was "not in consonance" with the provisions of Right to Information Rules, 2012. Besides, the rules are "unreasonable and arbitrary" as "there is no provision under the RTI Act for separate cost to obtain the application form only", the petition contends.
The application fee under the parent RTI Act is Rs 10 and the fee for photocopies is Rs 2. The petition has said the RTI Act directs that fees should be reasonable and sought that the high court's RTI rules be harmonised with the RTI rules.
"The petition was filed after not receiving any reply from the competent authority to a representation sent on March 9 in connection with the issue," petitioner counsel Shivsankar Mohanty said.
The petitioner has pointed out that there was no provision under the high court's RTI rules for providing access to information to citizens falling under the below poverty line category free of cost and has sought that such a provision should also be incorporated in the rules.
The petitioner has also sought starting an online facility to receive RTI applications and fees.
