Bengaluru: As there is no stock of the postal order with a face value of Rs. 10 in the city, the cost of seeking information under the Right To Information (RTI) Act, 2005 has doubled during the past few weeks.
Large number of citizens and activists seek information from various government departments. An application under the RTI Act necessitates a fee of Rs. 10, usually made through a postal order, which is available in post offices. However, officials at General Post Office (GPO), Bengaluru say they do not have stock of postal orders of face value of Rs. 10. Thus activists are being directed to buy a Rs. 20 postal order.
RTI activist B.M. Shivakumar said that the problem began about three months ago. “I have been using Rs. 20 postal orders for the past two months. An additional expenditure of Rs. 10 is not the issue. Why should we pay more when the RTI Act stipulates only Rs. 10?”, is the debate.
However, defending the post office’s actions, Chief Post Master, Bengaluru GPO, A.K. Hanjura said that they have run out of Rs. 10 postal orders. “Postal orders can be printed only by India Security Press, Nashik. The Karnataka circle has placed an indent with the press. We are expecting fresh stock by February-end,” he added.
