Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Assistance in Inspection under RTI Act 2005


Assistance in Inspection under RTI Act 2005

Normally PIOs or First Appellate Authorities refuse to permit assistant of choice of applicant during inspection.

Section 7.4 of RTI Act states as under:

“Where access to the record or a part thereof is required to be provided under this Act and the person to whom access is to be provided is sensorily disabled, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall provide assistance to enable access to the information, including providing such assistance as may be appropriate for the inspection.”

As per this section, PIO is duty bound to himself provide assistance in inspection and also to ensure that applicant gets other appropriate help as may be necessary to enable applicant to effectively and meaningfully inspect records.

I quote following decisions and judgement where in Information Commissioners and Hon’ble High Court have permitted assistance of a person of choice of appellant or complainant.

Central Information Commission

CIC/SG/C/2010/901000/9908Adjunct dated 13-12-2010.

CIC/AD/C/2011/001639 dated 05-12-2011

CIC/WB/A/2007/00692-SM dated 15-10-2008. I reproduce relevant paragraph from this decision:

“4. The Section 7(4) of the RTI Act provides that the CPIO should give assistance to those Applicants who are sensorily disabled, so that they can have access to the desired records. It is true that the Applicant is not sensorily disabled. It is also true that the Ordinance Factory, Kanpur in general and the CPIO in particular have already provided a lot of information contained in those two files concerning the Applicant’s case. Nevertheless, in view of the Applicant’s admission that he is not properly educated and that he can understand documents only with the help of outside assistance, I tend to interpret the expression ‘sensorily disabled’ more wildly to include illiteracy or inadequate education and, therefore, to be ground enough for grant of permission to use or get the help of an assistant for inspecting or accessing the records. In view of this, the First Appellate Authority and the CPIO are directed to allow the Appellant to inspect the relevant records with the help of an assistant and in the presence of a representative of the CPIO within 15 working days from the receipt of this order.”

Relevant extract from judgment dated 16-11-2007 of Hon’ble High Court of Delhi in W.P.(C) 8228/2007—Suresh Gupta v/s Dy.  Commissioner of Police and another:

“9. If the petitioner, for some reasons, felt inhibited due to his not being fluent in English, denial of appropriate assistance in fact would have resulted in withholding access to information. Surely, that is not the object of the Act or even the order. In these circumstances, the respondents should grant the petitioner's request. Accordingly, the respondent No.1 is directed to permit inspection of the concerned records by the petitioner, who can be accompanied by his counsel or an authorized representative.”

Thus information seeker is entitled to inspect records with the help of a person of his choice, if he has any infirmity which does not enable him to effectively inspect records and understand its contents. PIO and FAA would be violating provisions of RTI Act, CIC decisions and judgment of Hon’ble High Court, if they deny such assistance in inspection under RTI.


07032012

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Obtaining Photocopies of Evaluated Answer Sheets of Board/University of Karnataka


http://www.box.com/s/q6lkv0hu3t5i69iujvn2

APPLICATION UNDER THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT 2005
                        FORM-A (section 6(1) and 7(1) of the RTI Act, 2005)
Date: ________

1. Full Name of the Applicant: _______

2. Address with mobile No: _______

3. Details of the document/ Inspection/ Samples required:

I am attaching photocopy of my hall ticket of exam conducted in month of  _____ 2012.

Please  provide me followings:

3.1 Attested photocopies of my evaluated answer sheets of ALL /following subjects: [delete irrelevant]

a._________________ b. ___________ c. ______________ d___________

3.2 I may be permitted inspection of original answer sheets with assistant of my choice.

4. Year to which the above pertains: 2012

5. Designation and Address of the SPIO from whom information is required:

State Public Information Officer,

University/Board ______________

 Address of University/Board_________

Please mail information by registered or speed post only.

Note: I draw your kind attention to judgment dated 09-08-2011 of Hon’ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No.6454 of 2011.

Please do not destroy the requested record till finality of RTI process upto Information Commission and thereafter by way of writs, even if time stipulated under Public Records Act or record retention policy is over.

Signature of Applicant: _______________

Encl: Postal Order No. _____________ for Rs.10/- fvg State Public Information Officer and photocopy of hall ticket.
_______________________________________________________________

Guidelines for students:

1. Please send immediately after declaration of result if you are not satisfied with marks. This is in addition to re-total, revaluation etc as per rules of board/university.

2. Please attach postal order of Rs.10 in favour of “State Public Information Officer” payable at the place where you are mailing this application.

3. You will receive letter from board/university for payment of photocopying charges, which pay by postal order in favour of “State Public Information Officer” and mail to sender of letter giving reference number and date of letter or attach photocopy of letter received by you for payment of charges. Charges will be Rs.2 per page.



Obtaining Photocopies of Evaluated Answer Sheets from Board/University of Maharashtra


http://www.box.com/s/xxg7ub8xpul3avzl57q6

For Maharashtra Board/Universities
                                         

    Annexure A                                  Affix Court fee
                                    (see rule 3)                            Stamp of Rs. 10/-

              Application for obtaining information
            under the Right To Information Act, 2005


Date: _________                                                                 By speed post AD

To,
State Public information Officer,
Name of University / Board: _________
Address: ___________

(1)    Full name of Applicant: 

(2)    Full Address with mobile No.:

(3)    Particulars of the information required
   
            (i)  Subject matter of Information: Evaluated Answer sheets
 
            (ii)  The period to which the information relates:
           
            Exam held in _____[month] 2012

            (iii) Description of the information required:

I attach photocopy of my hall ticket for above exam. Please provide me attested photocopies of evaluated answer sheets of ALL /following subjects:

a. _______   b. _________    c. _____________ d. ____________


            (iv)Whether the information is required by post or in person: (the actual postal charges shall be included in additional fees): By post

            (v) In case by post (Ordinary, Registered or Speed): Speed

(4) Whether the applicant is below poverty line      : NO
(if yes, attach the photocopy of the proof thereof.)

(5) Please also permit me to inspect original evaluated answer sheets with assistant of my choice.

Note: I draw your kind attention to judgment dated 09-08-2011 of Hon’ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No.6454 of 2011. It is available on website of the Court. Please do not destroy the requested record till finality of RTI process upto Information Commission and thereafter by way of writs, even if time stipulated under Public Records Act or record retention policy is over.

Signature of Applicant : ___________________

Encl: Photocopy of hall ticket

_____________________________________________________

Note:

1. Please send immediately after declaration of result if you are not satisfied with marks. This is in addition to re-total, revaluation etc as per rules of board/university.

2. You will receive letter from board/university for payment of photocopying charges, which pay by money order in favour of State Public Information Officer of concerned board/university quoting RTI letter No., date of letter, your name and exam details. You can also pay by demand draft or pay order of bank in favour of board/university with covering letter addressed to sender of letter or attach photocopy of letter received for payment of charges.  Charges will be Rs.2 per page.

3. Court fee stamps are available at post offices, advocates, stamp vendors.

Obtaining Photocopies of Evaluated Answer Sheets from Board/University of Gujarat


http://www.box.com/s/dr5058cpu4c104lz30a7

For evaluated answer sheets of board/university exams of Gujarat


Affix Rs.20 court fee stamp or non-judicial stamp paper or revenue stamps 


The Right to Information Act, 2005
                                FORM A     [See rule 3(1) ]
                           Application for obtaining information
__________________________________________________________________

Date:  ______                                                                            By Speed post AD
                                      
To,
Public Information Officer
___________ University or Board

Address: _____________

Sir,

I want to obtain following information from you under The Right to Information Act, 2005. The details are as under.

1. Applicant's Name:  _____________________

2. Address of applicant: ________________


Mobile No. __________

3. Information required:  I am attaching photocopy of my hall ticket of exam conducted in month of  _____ 2012.

Please  provide me followings:

3.1 Attested photocopies of my evaluated answer sheets of ALL/FOLLOWING subjects [delete irrelevant] :

a _______________ b. ___________ c. ______________ d. ___________

3.2 I may be permitted inspection of original answer sheets with assistant of my choice.

4.  I have affixed non-judicial stamp/non-judicial stamp paper/ court fee stamps/revenue stamps of Rs.20/-

5. I hereby declare that I am a Citizen of India.

6. I declare that above details are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.

7. Please mail information by registered or speed post only.

Note: I draw your kind attention to judgment dated 09-08-2011 of Hon’ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No.6454 of 2011. It is available on website of the Court.Please do not destroy the requested record till finality of RTI process upto Information Commission and thereafter by way of writs, even if time stipulated under Public Records Act or record retention policy is over.

Signature of applicant: ___________________

Encl: Photocopy of hall ticket.

__________________________________________________________________

Guidelines for students:

1. Please send immediately after declaration of result if you are not satisfied with marks. This is in addition to re-total, revaluation etc as per rules of board/university.

2. You will receive letter from board/university for payment of photocopying charges, which pay by postal order in favour of board/university and mail to sender of letter giving reference number and date of letter or attach photocopy of letter received by you for payment of charges. Charges will be Rs.2 per page.

3. Court fee stamps, non-judicial stamp paper, revenue stamps and postal orders are available in post offices or stamp vendors or advocates.