Admn rolls back RTI application fee hike

The UT Administration has decided to roll back its decision to hike the fee charged for seeking information under the Right to Information Act. The applicants will now be required to pay Rs 10 for submitting an application and Rs 2 per page for the information received. The applications can now be submitted at all the e-Sampark centres and Jan-Sampark centres in Chandigarh,without any extra fee.

Taking a U-turn from its decision to hike the fee,the Administration announced its withdrawal on Wednesday ¿ a day before it was supposed to submit its reply on the issue in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

However,the government failed to submit its reply today,inviting the wrath of the Registrar General of the High Court,who has granted one last opportunity to the UT Administration and Ministry of Personnel to file their replies against a petition challenging the hike in RTI fee.

The petition was filed by social activist Hemant Goswami in March this year on the issue of promulgation of separate rules under the RTI Act by which the UT Administration had increased the application fee and the cost of documents to be obtained under RTI by 500 percent.