The Central Information Commission has asked the Department of Posts to look into the viability of issuing special RTI stamps for fee purpose following complaints of some fee-related problems.
It has also directed all public authorities to accept demand drafts, banker cheques or Indian Postal Orders (IPOs) payable to their accounts officers as RTI fees and ensure that "no instrument shall be returned" by them on the ground that these have not been drawn in the name of a particular officer.
"The best solution to the fee related problems appears to be to issue RTI stamps of the denomination of Rs 10 by the Department of Posts. It would be a time and cost effective step. The Commission would urge Department of Posts or Department of Personnel and Training to consider the viability of this suggestion with utmost dispatch," the CIC said in its recent order.
All public authorities shall direct the officers under their command to accept demand drafts or banker cheques or IPOs payable to their accounts officers.
"In other words, no instrument shall be returned by any officer of the public authority on the ground that it has not been drawn in the name of a particular officer. So long as the instrument has been drawn in favour of the accounts officer, it shall be accepted in all circumstances," the order said.
The CIC was hearing a complaint filed by RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal alleging that the public authorities often refuse to accept the IPOs if they are not stamped or not properly stamped by the postal authorities.
The postal orders payable to the accounts officers are also not being accepted by some of the public authorities thereby causing harassment to the information seekers, the complainant has said.
The CIC has also asked the Department of Posts to increase the number of post offices to accept applications and requisite fee for information under the RTI Act.
At present, the RTI applications and the requisite fee are being accepted by the designated post offices, numbering above 4,700.
"Considering the size of the country and the number of RTI applicants or applications, the number of designated post offices appears to be too small," the order said.
"It has been brought to the notice of the Commission that there are 25,464 departmental post offices and 1,29,402 extra departmental branch post offices. The Commission, therefore, advises the Secretary, Department of Posts, to consider designating all 25,464 departmental post offices to accept RTI applications and the requisite fee," it said.
