[rti_india] Fee for First and Second Appeals

Thursday, June 17, 2010

[rti_india] Fee for First and Second Appeals

NOTE: Just keeping the relevant part of the previous post by Ashish and also changing the subject of the thread.

1. In some States, like AP, the Government has notified separate "Appeal procedure Rules" to be followed by the SIC, which are distinct from the RTI Fees and Rules for prescribing fees for Sec 6(1), 7(1) , etc. In such States, neither the Appeal Procedure Rules nor the RTI Fees and Rules prescribe fees for any appeals.

2. Sec 27(2)(e) allows the appropriate Government for prescribing the procedure to be adopted by the CIC/SIC in deciding (second) appeals. Can "procedure for deciding appeals" include payment of a fee ? If the words used were "procedure for filing and deciding a appeal" then certainly the appropriate government could prescribe a fee as a pre requisite for filing a second appeal. But that is not the wording in this case.

3. The starting sentence in Sec 27 contains the phrase to "...make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act". Is there any provision in the Act which prescribes a fee for first or second appeals? Sec 19(1) and 19(3) (which deal with first and second appeals) do not say anything about the appeals being accompanied by a "prescribed fee".
On the other hand, Sec 6(1), 7(1), 7(3) and 7(5) clearly talk about "prescribed fee/s" and those have been correctly prescribed by the appropriate government/competent authority vide powers vested in them under Sec 27 and 28.
If the legislative intent was for a fee to be paid for first and second appeals, the Act would have clearly mentioned "appeals to be accompanied by fees as prescribed.etc.'.
Even if there was a mistake or a unintentional error on this account, the Central Government had 2 years to remove difficulties vide powers under Sec 30. Why didn't it do so ?

4. In Maharashtra (and in some other States as well as some High Courts) the rules also prescribe a fee for filing a first appeal under Sec 19(1). No where in Sec 27 or Sec 28 is any such rule making power vested in the appropriate government or the competent authority. How come such a fee has been prescribed even for First Appeals ?
Remember that the first appeal has to be filed with a "officer senior in rank" in the same PA. What is the logic in prescribing a fee for such a first appeal to a officer usually sitting in the same office as the PIO ?

RTIwanted

--- On Thu, 6/17/10, ashish kr1965 <ashishkr1965@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: ashish kr1965 <ashishkr1965@yahoo.com>
Subject: [rti_india] Re: Proposal to blacklist NCPRI members from RTI_India

- Section 28 does not contain a clause analogous to 27(2)(e)
for the procedure to be adopted by the Central Information Commission or
State Information Commission, as the case may be, in deciding the appeals
under sub-section (10) of section 19;"

It is this clause which enables fees to be charged for appeals to the CIC/SIC,