The 500 word limit
WE received this mail -
"By a notification dated 31st July, 2012, the Central Government in supersession of the Central Information Commission (Appeal Procedure) Rules, 2005 and the Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005 has framed a new set of Rules called Right to Information Rules, 2012.
What caught my attention is Rule 3. It reads -
'3. Application Fee.- An application under sub-section (1) of Section 6 of the Act shall be accompanied by a fee of rupees ten and shall ordinarily not contain more than five hundred words, excluding annexures, containing address of the 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 words.'
Usage of the words 'shall ordinarily not contain' would to a commoner mean that in exceptional circumstances the RTI application can exceed 500 words. Further, for the purpose of computing the limit of 500 words, the word count of addresses of the CPIO and the applicant stand excluded. The Rule by a proviso clause mandates that no application shall be rejected on the sole ground that it contains more than 500 words.
I was just imagining as to how the CPIO would be processing an application received under the RTI Act, 2005.
In all probability, he would be doing the following -
+ Keeping all other office work aside, he would first start counting the words in the application but by the time he has reached a hundred words, the phone would ring and he would be in a dilemma - whether to take the phone or continue counting!
+ After jotting down the number of words he has counted on his note pad and making a mark on the RTI application, he would pick up the phone and engage in an animated discussion veering from his transfer to his seniority;
+ the telephonic conversation having come to an end, he would start counting again only to be interrupted by a call on his intercom - his PA informing that the boss has summoned him for a meeting - repeating the exercise he had conducted before taking the earlier phone call, he would fume and utter some cuss words and make his way to his boss's cabin;
+ by the time he returns, the note pad goes missing and he starts counting all over again.
+ finding this to be a ridiculous exercise, he would finally ask his PA to carefully type out the contents of the RTI application in Microsoft word so that he can employ the ‘Word Count' button.
+ Satisfied that the first part of the job is done he would now put his mind and heart to decide the fate of the application.
However, this is what would happen when the CPIO finds that the word count in the RTI application exceeds 500 words, say it is 555, and the proviso in Rule 3 requiring him to honour the application.
+ He first opens the typed word document and brings down the word count to 500 by using the ‘delete' button on his PC (personal computer). Obviously, he would delete the essentials - meaning the ‘information sought' and then come to a conclusion that the application does not seek any information and hence there is nothing to be attended to.
His conscience pricks him from adopting this sly attitude so moves on to the next alternative.
+ Taking a puff from his 555, he again opens the Word document and deletes the last fifty-five words and happily says that he would now attend only to the information sought in the first five hundred words that remain!