Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 10: The Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Movement (JKRTIM) has demanded that the practice of charging fees from RTI applicants through postal orders should be disbanded since the money accrued from Postal Orders goes into Central Government’s kitty and not the State Government.
In a statement, JKRTIM convener, Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat said that it was wrong on part of the State Government to charge the RTI processing charges through Postal Orders along with the other options. He said State treasury has lost a good amount to the Central treasury due to the option of Postal Orders as many RTI applicants had paid the processing charges in form of Postal Orders.
“Thousands of RTI applicants have paid and are paying RTI application fees and Xerox charges in shape of Indian Postal Orders (IPO’s) from 2009 till date. Not a single penny has gone into the State Government’s account. This is a gross mistake, illogical & illegal act and the people who ordered for such a provision should be held responsible,” said Dr Muzaffar.
Dr Muzaffar appealed Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to personally intervene in the matter and requested him to get a circular issued so that this provision is deleted from the J&K RTI Rules 2010. He also appealed the CM to slash RTI application fees from Rs 50 to Rs 10.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel