Justice KS Jhaveri of the Gujarat high court has issued notices to the state government and others pertaining to a writ petition seeking to accept Indian Postal Order (IPO) as one of the modes of payment to deposit fees during the filing of applications under Right to Information Act.
Bringing the issue to notice, the petitioner Amit Jethwa, a social worker, stated that the state government has not issued a notification to accept fees through IPO despite it being acceptable in all other states of the country.
“Payment through draft is expensive for the applicant while IPO is the cheapest way to deposit the amount,” said Vijay Nangesh, counsel for Jethwa.
According to the petition, Jethwa had moved an application before the public information officer (PIO) of the energy and the petrochemical department.The PIO asked Jethwa to deposit Rs108 as fee for the 54 pages of information.When Jethwa sent the fee of Rs110 through IPO, the PIO refused to accept the money and directed him to make payment by cash or demand draft.
Thereafter, Jethwa approached the chief information commissioner.
The commissioner issued suggestion to the general administration department to accept the IPO as a mode of paying fees.
Despite the suggestion, the government has not added IPO as a mode of payment in the RTI Act.Nangesh further submitted in the petition that the banks are charging more than the IPO.For instance one has to pay Rs30 for a Rs20 demand draft or pay order while the post office charges just Rs2 for the IPO of the same amount.
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