Fee to be paid after 30 days also for seeking copies of documents
19 Dec, 2011
Background
The Appellant sought information regarding service tax deposited by a firm during a certain period of time. The PIO informed replied that since the information sought relates to third party, hence it can be provided after taking third party’s consent. Since the firm did not agree, information was denied by the PIO under section 8(1) (j) of the RTI act. On appeal, the First Appellate Authority (FAA) requested the appellant to deposit Rs. 630/- for obtaining photocopies of Service Tax Returns consisting of 315 pages. The appellant contested that the demand of the amount by FAA towards photocopy was unjustified since the reply was not provided in stipulated period of 30 days.
View of the CIC
The commission observed that the PIO replied to appellant within stipulated period and has denied the information u/s 8(1) (j) after invoking section 11 of RTI act. However, the FAA on his first appeal has provided desired information. Therefore, if photocopies of the required information are needed, the appellant should deposit the decided fee for the information.
Citation: Shri Mahendra Agrawal v. Office of the Commissioner of Central Excise & Service Tax in File No: CIC/SS/A/2011/001312