RTI for citizens Right to Information: [rti_india] Electronic Submission of RTI Request with online payment

11th Dec'2009

Sh. Wajahat Habibullah,
Chief Information Commissioner
Central Information Commission
Government of India

Sub: Electronic Submission of RTI Request with online payment

Dear Sir,

1. Whereby Section 6 (1) of the RTI Act empowers a citizen to obtain information in electronic form.
( 6(1) A person, who desires to obtain any information under this Act, shall make a request in writing or through electronic means in English or Hindi or in the official language of the area in which the application is being made, accompanying such fee as may be prescribed, to....)

2. There are very few public authorities who have listed the email addresses of the CPIO/ Appellate Authority on their website to facilitate online submission of RTI request.

3. As per the knowledge of undersign not even a single Public Authority (including CIC while acting as Public Authority under RTI Act) has made any reference to the Bank Account Number (or any alternate method like credit card ) for online payment of RTI request fees of Rs 10.

4. Therefore I would request you to direct all Public Authorities to implement the complete provisions of Section 6(1) of RTI Act and facilitate electronic submission of RTI request along with provisions of online payment.

5. I would also request you to direct DoPT to frame necessary rules / issue notifications in this regard. (if required)

6. A sensatization of all State Information Commissions on the above subject may also be considered.

7. State Governments of Bihar (through the Jankari Project) and State Government of Orissa (through portal http://www.rtiorissa.gov.in/ ) have already implemented the same in a limited way.

8. With regards to technical feasibility the online submission of application through portal http://www.rtiorissa.gov.in/ is a good example and the online payment system has already been implemented by many Government Projects like Online reservation of rail tickets and MCA21. Therefore there are no legal and technical issues in implementing the above. I believe that Department of Information Technology (GOI) and National Informatics Centre (NIC) which are implementing the prestigous National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) will come forward to assist the various Public Authorities in this step towards greater transparency. I have separately written to CPIOs in a few Public Authorities championing e-Governance like DIT, DARPG, NIC,NISG etc requesting implementation of the said provisions within their Departments. I will share their response with you whenever recieved

9. Having said above I will be glad if you can direct all Public Authorities to implement the electronic submission of RTI requests and put up the detailed procedure for same on their websites.

10. Being the custodians of RTI implementation in country it will be a national benchmark if CIC as Public Authority implements e-governance in RTI request processing and facilitate electronic submission of RTI requests. (along with electronic payment)

With Regards,

Sameer Sachdeva
162, GH4, Meera Apartments
Pachim Vihar, New Delhi - 110063
Ph. 011-45522890; Mobile : 9999337900
http://sites.google.com/site/superwhistleblower/