West Bengal Right to Information Rules, 2006

West Bengal Right to Information Rules, 2006, compiled with up to date amendments:-

Government of West Bengal
Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department
Administrative Reforms Cell

Rules

1. Short title and commencement

(1) These rules may be called the West Bengal Right to Information Rules, 2006.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

2. Definitions

(1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,

(a) “Act” means the Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005);
(b) “Commission” means the West Bengal Information Commission;
(c) “Registrar” means the Registrar of the Commission;
(d) “Section” means section of the Act;
(e) “State Government” means the Government of West Bengal.

(2) Words and expressions used and not defined in these rules but defined the Act, shall have the same meanings as respectively assigned to them in the Act.

3. (1) Application fee

An application containing a request in writing to the State Public Information Officer or the State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, made under sub-section (1) of Section 6 for obtaining information, shall be accompanied with a court-fee of rupees ten or a non-Judicial Stamp paper of rupees ten, or by Demand Draft or Bankers Cheques or Indian Postal Order, payable in favour of ” __________________ (name of the link bank) a/c Government of West Bengal, RTI ACT”;

(2) An applicant while sending a request for information by e-mail shall deposit the application fee of rupees ten by Demand Draft or by Bankers Cheques or by Indian Postal Order, payable in favour of ” ______________________ (name of the link bank) a/c Government of West Bengal, RTI ACT”, mentioning the particulars of such deposit to the Public Information Officer in such e-mail and on receipt of said information, the Public Information Officer shall process such request for providing such information :

Provided that such information as sought for shall not be delivered to the applicant unless the requisite amount of application fee has been received by the Public Information Officer by Demand Draft or Bankers Cheques or Indian Postal Order, as the case may be;

(3) The Public Information Officer shall, after receiving Demand Draft or Bankers Cheques or Indian Postal Order under sub-rule (2), arrange to remit the fee to such authorised branches of the Public Bank linked with the Treasury as mentioned in Appendix 3 to the West Bengal Treasury Rules, 2005, by the next working day in T. R. Form No. 7 under the Head of Account and Head Code mentioned in column (1) and column (2) against serial Nos. 1 and 2 respectively, of the Table below:-

Provided that the applicant may deposit such application fee under the above head of accounts directly through the concerned bank linked with Treasury and shall produce the receipted challan to the Public Information Officer.

4. (1) Fee for providing information

Save as otherwise provided in the proviso to sub-section (5) of Section 7, the State Public Information Officer or the State Assistant Public Information officer, as the case may be, shall provide information under sub-section (1), and sub-section (5), of Section 7 upon receipt of a request under Section 6, on payment of a fee of –

(a) rupees two, for each page (in A-4 or A-3 size paper) created or copied; or
(b) actual charge or cost price, for a copy in large size paper; or
(c) actual cost price, for sample or model; or
(d) rupees five for each fifteen minutes or fraction thereof, for inspection of records; or
(e) rupees fifty per diskette or floppy, for information provided in the diskette or floppy; or
(f) actual charge fixed for publication or rupees two per page of photocopy for extracts therefrom, for information provided in printer form.

(2) The fee as mentioned in clause (a) to clause (f) of sub-section (1) shall be deposited to the officer to be designated by the concerned Department of the State Government in this behalf, either by Demand Draft or Bankers Cheque or Indian Postal Order payable in favour of ” ________________ (name of the link bank) a/c Government of West Bengal, RTI ACT”;

(3) The Public Information Officer shall, after receiving Demand Draft or Bankers Cheque or Indian Postal Order, as the case may be, as mentioned in sub-rule (2), arrange to remit the fee to such authorised branches of the Public Bank linked with the Treasury as mentioned in Appendix 3 to the West Bengal Treasury Rules, 2005, by the next working day in T. R. Form No. 7 under the Head of Account and Head Code mentioned in column (1) and column (2) against serial Nos. 1 and 2 respectively, of the Table below:-

Provided that the applicant may deposit such fees under the above head of accounts directly through the concerned bank linked with the Treasury and shall produce the receipted challan to the Public Information Officer.

5. Contents of appeal to Commission under sub-section (3) of Section 19

An appeal to the Commission under sub-section (3) of Section 19, shall contain the following information namely

(a) name and address of the applicant.
(b) name and address of the State Public Information Officer or the State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, who passed the order;
(c) self-attested photocopy of the order of an officer to whom appeal has been preferred under subsection (1) of section 19 of the Act;
(d) gist of the information sought for;
(e) grounds for appeal and the relief sought for;

6. Documents to accompany appeal to Commission under sub-section (3) of Section 19

Every appeal made to the Commission shall be accompanied by the following documents, namely

(a) the attested true copy of the order against which the appeal is being preferred;
(b) the copies of documents relied upon by the appellant and referred to in the appeal; and
(c) an index of the documents referred to in the appeal.

7. Procedure in deciding appeal to Commission under sub-section (3) of Section 19

(1) In deciding the appeal to the Commission, the Commission shall :-

(a) hear, oral or written, evidence on oath or on affidavit form the concerned or interested person;
(b) peruse or inspect documents, public records or copies thereof.
(c) Enquire through the authorized officer for further details or facts;
(d) hear the State Public Information Officer or the State Assistant Public Information Officer or such officer who decided the first appeal mentioned in sub-section (1) of Section 19, as the case may be;
(e) hear the third party, if required; and
(f) receive evidence on affidavits from State Public Information Officer of the State assistant public Information officer or such officer who decided the first mentioned in sub-section (1) of Section 19 or from the third party; if any

(2) In deciding the appeal the Commission may ask the appellant to add any other information other than the information included in the contents of the second appeal under rule 5.

8. Service of notice by Commission

The notice required to be issued under sub-section (9) of Section 19, by the Commission may be served in any of the following modes, namely :-

(a) service by the party itself;
(b) service by hand delivery through the process server;
(c) service by the registered post with acknowledgement due;
(d) service through the head of office or the Department;

9. Signing of order

The order of the Commission pronounced in open proceedings shall be in writing and authenticated by the Registrar of any other authorized by the commission in this behalf.

10. Terms and conditions of officers and other employees of Commission

The officers and other employees of the Commission shall be placed on deputation form the State Government on the usual terms and conditions.

References:

No. 157-PAR(AR) dated 10.03.2006
No. 724-PAR(AR) dated 17.10.2008