Can the application fee be paid via banker’s cheque?
20 May, 2012Background
The appellant requested for the certified copy of the judgment passed in a particular case and had enclosed the fee through banker's cheque by way of application fee and further fee. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information stating that the application fee should be paid in cash or by money order or Indian postal order or a demand draft and not by way of cheque and the application was therefore defective. The appellant argued that it was not clear if the rules cited by the PIO had been framed by the Chief Justice of India, the competent authority for the Supreme Court of India. Aggrieved by the decision of the PIO the appellant filed a complaint directly with the Central Information Commission.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) noted that the appellant had deposited the fee through a banker's cheque and the RTI (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules 2005 rules framed by the DoPT, clearly prescribe the banker’s cheque as a valid mode of payment of application fee. Therefore, if these rules have been adopted by the Supreme Court, the PIO should not have rejected the application as invalid. The Commission directed the PIO to disclose the information after checking if the appellant had sent a banker’s cheque or to pass a reasoned order if the information cannot be disclosed for any other reason.
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/320
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission