RTI fee no more than ₹50, not necessary to spell motive: SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court fixed on Tuesday an upper limit of ~50 as application fee that the government authorities can charge those seeking information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the country’s transparency law.

Also, a bench of justices AK Goel and UU Lalit said public authorities cannot ask for more than ~5 for each page as photocopying charge, and an applicant does not necessarily have to mention the “motive” while filling out the application form.

The order is a relief for RTI activists because some of them had contended that prohibitive costs were a deterrent and discouraged them from filing applications under the 2005 legislation meant to promote transparency and accountability in government offices.

The apex court also disposed of a batch of petitions filed in 2011 that challenged RTI rules of several high courts and authorities such as the Chhattisgarh assembly, which had imposed excessive fees for application and photocopying. It was pointed out to the top court that the Allahabad high court had asked ~500 as application fee and ~15 as photocopying charges.

Under the RTI Act, each authority can frame its own rules to effectuate the provisions of the law. The Centre has framed its own rules. However, it’s not mandatory for states or public authorities such as the courts to adopt the central rules and are free to write their own.

The petitions questioned several allegedly arbitrary rules that made it impossible for the applicants to seek information not available in public domain, besides the “exorbitant costs”.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan said the high courts had added extra conditions in their rules based on which information could likely be rejected.