The registrars of the Supreme Court and high courts and the state governments have been asked by the Centre to harmonise rules to ensure uniformity in fee charged by them under Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The move assumes significance as various public authorities, especially in the states, charge different fees for providing information under the transparency law.
The Centre had notified a set of RTI Rules in 2012. While drafting them, it was stipulated that once notified, the state governments would be requested to adopt these rules “mutatis mutandis” (making necessary alterations while not affecting the main point at issue) so that there might be uniformity, as far as possible, in the matter of implementation of the Act throughout the country, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said in an order.
“All the states or competent authorities are, therefore requested to kindly review their Right to Information (Fee and Cost Rules) and Appeal Procedure Rules and to notify, if need be, fresh rules in consonance with the those notified by the Government of India,” it said in an order sent to the states and registrars of SC and HCs.
