HC decides to amend Delhi High Court RTI Rules 2006

The Delhi High Court has decided to amend its 2006 RTI rules regarding rate of application fees and the exemption to persons who are below poverty line.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath noted that the central government had made the RTI (regulation of fee and cost) Rules, 2005, and had superseded it in 2012 in which rules prescribed the fees for providing information.
"As is evident from the amendments that have now been affected to the High Court Rules as well as the District Rules, the fees structure has been brought in conformity with provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Rules, 2012 made by the central government.

"Similarly, the persons who are below poverty line are also expressly exempted from payment of fees, provided a copy of the certificate issued by the appropriate government is submitted along with the application," the court observed.
It was hearing a plea filed by four law students seeking harmonisation of fees charged under high court's RTI rules and the parent RTI rules.
The plea had also sought quashing of Rule 3 of Delhi High Court RTI Rules 2006, under which separate applications have to be made to access unrelated information.

The same was declined by the bench, saying, "no amendment is needed to Rule 3 of High Court Rules".

The petitioners, including law student Aastha Sharma, had submitted that under Rule 10 of high court's RTI Rules, Rs 50 is the application fee and Rs 5 per page was the fee for photocopies of the information sought and had alleged that these amounts are "arbitrary, unreasonable and exorbitant" for the public at large.
The application fee under the parent RTI Act is Rs 10 and the fee for photocopies is Rs 2.
The plea had said that the RTI Act mandates that the fees should be reasonable and sought that the high court's RTI rules be harmonised with the umbrella RTI Rules.