Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate new building for Central Information Commission (CIC) on November 21, 2017. It will be an appropriate occasion that RTI stamps in denominations of Rs 2, 10 and 50 may be issued as alternate mode of payment of RTI fees and other charges. Such stamps can be on the lines of earlier such stamps issued as mode of payment of licence-fess for radio and TV sets. Alternatively numbered RTI coupons can be issued to avoid heavy handling and clearing charges by postal-department and banks in getting remittance of postal-orders presently being used as most common mode of payment of RTI fees, where postal-department alone has to spend nearly rupees forty in handling a postal-order worth just Rs 10.
With postal-orders below Rs 10 discontinued, there is no convenient mode of payment of copying-charges in fractions of Rs 10. Already CIC in its various verdicts has recommended for issue of convenient RTI stamps. Even matter has been repeatedly taken administratively by CIC with Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). Also Prime Minister can announce acceptance of post-free RTI applications addressed to central public-authorities in all about 160000 post-offices in the country rather than presently in just 4500 post-offices. Even smallest post-office daily sends post-bags to head post-office with registered postal articles, cash and other revenue-items like unsold postage-stamps and postal-orders. This post-bag can carry post-free RTI applications addressed to central public-authorities.
Madhu Agrawal
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
