MAPUSA: The Revenue Department overcharged an appellant, Co-convenor of Goencho Avaaz, who sought a Right to Information Act (RTI) information related to a land conversion on November 26, 2018 in the office of the Additional Collector III of Bardez, Mapusa.
For 39 pages, Swapnesh Sherlekar was charged Rs 1,989. The first appeal filed by the appellant was decided on May 15. An order has been passed that the fees payable is Rs 2 per page and the amount calculated is Rs 78. The Public Information Officer (PIO) is directed to refund the excess amount i.e. Rs 1,911 within 10 days from the receipt of the said order.
The appellant was intimidated to collect the information vide a letter dated December 6, 2018.
Sherlekar said under the RTI Act he had sought for an entire file regarding the commercial conversion of a project at Assonora. Later, he received a reply that his information is ready and can collect the same. On account of his busy schedule, he had sent a representative on December 24 with an authority letter to collect the same. It was revealed that he would have to pay Rs 51 per copy, which amounted to Rs 1,989.
“They are not supposed to charge more than Rs 2 per page for a copy of A4 size and legal paper. I asked for a detailed reply on how they got an amount of Rs 1,989 for just 39 pages. They did not reply as per the instruction in the RTI Act but since we had to file a petition, we paid the amount and collected the RTI reply,” Sherlekar added.
