RTI - 30 Rupees Commission for a 10 Rupees DD?
A Concerned netizen sent us this mail -
"I wanted to make an application seeking information under the RTI Act, 2005. I visited Rule 3 of the Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005 which reads thus -
"3. A request for obtaining information under sub-section (1) of section 6 shall be accompanied by an application fee of rupees ten by way of cash against proper receipt or by demand draft or bankers cheque or Indian Postal Orders payable to the Accounts Officer of the public authority."
As I did not want to visit the office of the public authority and make the 'application fee' payment in cash, I went to the State Bank of India and applied for issuance of a Demand Draft of Rs.10/- favouring the Accounts officer of the public authority. To my surprise, the bank commission charges for issuance of a Rs.10/- DD was Rs.30/-. I also found that other banks charged anywhere between Rs.25/- to Rs.30/- as the minimum charges for issuance of a DD. Adding to it the 'Speed Post' charges of Rs.12/- to send the RTI Application, the total expense incurred by me to make the RTI application came to Rs.42/- .
I have learnt a lesson. The next time I will approach the local post office for the IPO of Rs.10/- as they charge only Rs.1/- (rupees One only) as commission.
I feel that the Central Government should issue directives through the RBI to all banks to charge a token commission while issuing such DDs."