New Delhi:
There is reason to cheer for millions of Indians living overseas. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) today added 176 Indian missions abroad under the category of "public authorities", which will now accept RTI application fees through the E-IPO (Electronic-Indian postal order).
Till now, Indian citizens who filed RTIs abroad with their respective missions, had to submit the application fees of Rs 10 through cheques made out in that country's local currency. So, an Indian citizen living in the US would have to make a cheque or draft of sixteen cents, the equivalent of Rs 10, and send it with a passport copy while submitting an RTI in the Indian missions In the US.
"This was a big hurdle and also causing a huge administrative problem and expenses for the missions abroad," says Noida-based RTI activist Lokesh Batra, who has for years been trying to make it easier to file RTIs.
Mr Batra got a first-hand experience of the difficulties in filing RTIs abroad when he was visiting his daughter in the US a couple of years ago. He has since then been campaigning to make the process simpler.
In 2010, the then Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had in a letter to the DoPT remarked, "It has been observed that Missions/posts are even now experiencing difficulties while handling payment of foreign currencies equivalent to Rs 10/- per application which includes banking/accounting charges, transaction costs and even complicated banking accounting procedures."
While Indians abroad could buy E-IPOs as fees for RTIs starting March 22, this was not extended to cover the Indian missions in foreign countries where citizens still had to pay through cheques and drafts.
"This is a landmark move," says Mr Batra. Other activists say this will go a long way in not only making it easier to file RTIs with missions abroad, but also make their functioning more transparent.
The next step is enabling Indian citizens living in India to also use the E-IPO, a facility which so far is only open to Indians abroad. Until that happens, citizens living in India will either have to physically buy the IPOs at post offices or make payments in cash or drafts.
Senior officers in DoPT say that they are working to make the process simpler and opening the facility to all Indian citizens. The Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) had also recommended that a postal stamp be brought out to serve as "RTI fees" to make the process easier.