Punjab adopts central fee pattern for RTI

Chandigarh, May 19 (UNI) The Punjab government has decided to adopt the fee structure as prescribed by the central government under the Right to Information (RTI) act.

This was conveyed to the Punjab and Haryana High Court here today during the resumed hearing on the PIL by advocate H C Arora pointing out the high rates of fee prescribed by the Punjab and Haryana governments for providing information to the public.

While the central government has prescribed a fee of Rs 10 for submitting application under the act, Punjab and Haryana governments were charging Rs 50 for the same. Also, for photostat page, the central government fixed Rs two per page but the two state governments were charging Rs 10 per page.

For providing information in floppy or diskette, the central government charged Rs 50 per floppy or diskette, the Punjab and Haryana governments were charging Rs 100 for the same.

The High Court had issued notices to both the governments to respond to the PIL. However, the Haryana government has sought some more time to file the reply and the bench of the acting Chief Justice Harjit Singh Bedi and Ranjit Singh Randhawa adjourned the hearing to August three.

UNI XC HS VD KN1944