Central Railways demand Rs. 1,000 per page of information under RTI
23 Aug, 2013
An application was filed with the Central Railways under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get the copies of reservation charts of Mumbai-Howrah Gitanjali Express (train number 12859) and Mumbai CST-Howrah SF Express (train number 12869) for May 26. The applicant had filed the application so as to get some clue about the death of his cousin, who was expected to board Gitanjali express and whose mutilated body was found near Lasalgaon.
However, the applicant was surprised to see the Central Railway's reply to his application which asked him to pay Rs. 1,000 per page of information. The applicant said that the then Chief Commercial Manager and Public Information Officer of Central Railways wrote in the reply that the demanded 81-page information could be provided only after the applicant pays Rs. 81,000 through demand draft.
The railway authorities cited a December 2011 circular of the Central railways for the exorbitant fee charged for the information. However, the applicant described it as a deliberate attempt on the part of the railways to dodge RTI queries. The incidence denotes the lack of awareness and training on the part of the public authorities.