Local bodies should accept court fee stamp as RTI application fee: Commission

Thiruvananthapuram: State Information Commission has ordered that local self-governments should accept court fee stamp of Rs. 10 as fee for RTI applications.

Some State Public Information Officers of local bodies had refused to accept applications affixed with court fee stamp and demanding cash payments on the ground that they were not government departments.

However, State Chief Information Commissioner Siby Mathews said in his order on a petition filed C. Sarathchandran Nair of Kollam against State Information Officer of Padmana Grama Panchayat that government itself had not issued any order specifying that court fee stamp was not acceptable for applications filed with local bodies.

“Discretionary power” said to have exercised by the panchayat secretary specifying cash payment did not exist under the law. The panchayat secretary was an official under the Department of Panchayats and the panchayat would have to follow the Kerala Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules and amendments thereto.