SIC’s directive about putting a cap on free photocopies to BPL applicants gathers dust

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Although Below Poverty Line (BPL) RTI applicants form a small percentage of the total number of RTI applicants in the state, the voluminous nature of the information they seek has increasingly becoming a major cause of concern for various officers.

Despite the State Information Commissioner’s (SIC’s) report recommending curbs on the number of pages of photocopies that can be given to the BPL applicants, the state government has failed to act on it. Officials both in the various SIC benches in the state and in the government are now talking about an urgent attention to this matter.

Last year, of the total 7,03,093 RTI applicants received in the state, 7856 were from BPL applicants. In 2013, of the total 7,51,190 RTI applications received, 6,332 were from BPL applicants and of the 6,45,023 RTI applications received in 2012, 11,246 were from BPL applicants. Although the total number of RTI applications have gone down in the state, the number of BPL applications has not seen any fixed trend.

Officials with SIC benches in Pune, Nashik and Aurangabad also talk about a new trend. “Applications are coming in from BPL applicants days after the public information officer quotes a hefty fee for providing information to a non-BPL applicant. In most cases, the applications are same. Just the name and stature of the applicant changes. We feel BPL applicants are being used a front by others,” said an official with the Nashik SIC bench.

During the course of hearing of second appeals, such cases have come up too. Both in their annual reports of 2013 and 2014, the SIC had asked for the state government to change rules which allow first 50 pages to be given free of cost to a BPL applicant while the rest can be procured by paying relevant fees. However, no action was taken by the state government on this.

City-based RTI activist Vivek Velankar says the Karnataka government made a rule in 2011, which says that only information worth Rs 100 (50 pages) can be given free. “This rule has stopped the misuse of this provision of the law. The Maharashtra government can do like wise and it would be welcomed by everyone,” he said.