This article is written by Team LawSikho. This article discusses the fee that is payable for seeking information from public departments, whether they are under the Central Government, state government, a local authority or pertaining to any other public authority that is covered under the RTI Act.

How much fee is required to be paid for the information?

Application Fee: A person who desires to seek some information from a Public Authority is usually required to pay a sum of Rs. 10 along with the application. This application fee may differ from state to state and some organizations also lay down a separate provision for payments of fees. Therefore, you must check out the website of the public authority from whom you are seeking information or call the PIO to get the relevant details with regard to the fees payable with the application. Such fees must be payable to the Accounts Officer of the public authority and can be paid to the Public Authority in the following manner:

1. By way of  a demand draft
2. Banker’s cheque
3. Indian Postal Order  
4. By way of cash to the Accounts Officer or to the Assistant Public Information Officer against proper receipt.
5. The payment of the fee to the Central Ministries/departments can also be made online through internet banking of State Bank of India or through Master/Visa Debit/credit cards. You will have to check if this facility is provided in case of respective state government or local authorities.

Cost of providing information: In addition to the application fees, you may also have to also pay a further fee towards cost of providing the information, details of which are duly intimated by the PIO as per the rules laid down under Right to Information (Regulation of fees and cost) Rules, 2005, after your application is filed. Hence, you do not need to worry about the cost of providing information at the time of filing your RTI application. However, note that once you are intimated about the fees, the time you take to pay the fee is excluded from the 30-day period within which the public authority is required to furnish information, as we will discuss below.

The rates as prescribed by the rules are as follows:

• For information provided in printed form – At the price fixed for such publication or Rupees two (Rs. 2/-) per page of photocopy for extracts from the publication

• For inspection of records – there is no fee for the first hour and a fee of Rupees  five (Rs. 5/-) for each subsequent hour (or fraction thereof)

• For making copies of information (that is identified after inspection) –

• Rupees Two (Rs. 2/-) for each page (A-4 or A-3 size) created or copied
• Actual charge or cost price of a copy in larger size paper
• Actual cost or price for samples or models

• For information provided in digital media (disks or floppy) – Rupees Fifty (Rs. 50/-) per diskette or floppy – Floppy drives are obsolete now so you may want to insist on information to be provided on CDs.

Please note that applicants belonging to the Below Poverty Line Category are not required to pay any fee. To know the how much is payable in your state, please check the link here with regard to mode and method of payment of fees.

How/When does one know the cost to be paid towards Procurement of Records

The PIO after receiving your RTI application evaluates the cost of the documents that you have sought and sent an intimation letter giving out the breakup of the cost. In case you have asked for an inspection, he will also give you the date, time and place for carrying out the inspection.

Practically speaking, the PIO replies within 30-45 days of receiving your application. Once you receive this letter of intimation, you can make payment of requisite fee through any of the modes as mentioned above and your information will be furnished to you within 7 days.

What happens if you fail to pay additional fees towards the cost of providing information within 30 days deadline? can PIO be penalized for the lapse of your part?

No, PIO will not invite penalty in such cases. The 30-day clock stops ticking from the date of dispatching the intimation for further fees issued by the PIO and restarts from the day such fee is paid by the applicant. [Section 7(3)(a) and Section 7(3)(b)]

For example, if the PIO dispatches the intimation letter of additional fees on the 4th of receipt of your application, then only 4 days would be counted to have lapsed from 30-day limit. The clock will restart from the day he receives payment of additional fees from you. The PIO in the present case will have to provide you information within 26 days from the date of payment of such additional fees. If the applicant chooses to seek review of the additional fee from the Appellate Authority or SIC/CIC, then the period taken to decide the matter will not be included in the 30-day limit.

Whether Application can be deposited personally?

For all central government departments, the Department of Posts has designated 629 postal offices at the national level. The designated Officers in these post offices work as Assistant PIOs and collect the application to forward to the concerned PIO. List of CPIOs can be found here  (ACPIOs can be accessed here). If the application is to be deposited with a state government / local authority, the procedure and mode of deposit will depend on the State Rules.