RTI activist asked Rs94,500 for information

LUDHIANA: Municipal authorities' apathetic attitude could be gauged from the fact that an RTI activist was asked to pay for providing the information though the time limit to provide it had already passed.
City based RTI activist Arvind Sharma alleged he was asked to pay Rs 94,500 to access the information he asked for as it required to photo copy 31,500 pages.
Arvind had sought to know for how many years MC had to recover octroi cost and who were the officers responsible for not recovering the amount. He had asked for the info because according to MC external audit report, the civic body is yet to recover Rs 23.73 crore from octroi. "I had filed the RTI application on August 19 but the concerned official asked me to deposit Rs 94,500 in an MC account after 32 days had passed,'' he said.
According to RTI act, an applicant shall be asked to pay for information in case papers are to be photo copied. But, if a department fails to provide information in time, then the applicant can not be charged for it.
Arvind had appealed to MC commissioner A K Sinha on October 10, following which the commissioner had ordered the officials on October 25 to provide the information free of cost within a week.
"I would wait till Tuesday and if the officials fail to abide, I would file a petition with State Information Commission,'' said Arvind. Sinha assured that information would be provided within the ordered period.