RESOLUTION OF THE

WORKSHOP ON ORISSA RIGHT TO INFORMATION RULES

held at Bolangir on 3 Nov. 2005

A Workshop on Orissa Right to Information Rules was organized jointly by Bolangir District Working Journalists Association and the Vikalpa, Kantabanji on 3rd November 2005 in the Conference Hall of DRDA, Bolangir. The District Collector Shri Narayan Chandra Jena, ADM Shri Monmohan Mishra , PD DRDA Shri Himachala Prasad Nag, PD WORLP Shri Lingaraj Otta and other officials participated in the Workshop along with the persons from the cross sections of the society. Noted social scientist Mr. Chitta Behera and Mr. Biren Naik, Programme Officer Action Aid Orissa joined in as the Resource Persons.

The following Resolutions were adopted in the Workshop and it was decided to forward it to the State Government for necessary action.

  1. As Orissa Government has not yet made gazette notification of the Orissa Right to Information Rules, hence the Rules so far framed by the State Government should be treated as "draft rule" under the RTI Act 2005.

  2. As per the central Act, all citizens belonging to the BPL category are eligible to receive the information free of cost. The same provision should be applicable in case of Orissa too.

  3. The citizens not belonging to the BPL category should be provided information at actual cost and the Application Fee in Orissa should be as per the central Act.

  4. The charges for a CD or a Floppy should be Rs. 15/- and for photo copy Re.1/- per page only.

  5. The fees for first and second appeals should be waived.

  6. The provision of collecting cost of damage caused to the public property during sample collection from the applicant should be withdrawn.

  7. According to Rule 12, expenditure to be incurred on production of witness/evidence etc to be deposited in advance by the appellant before the Information Commission. This provision is absurd, and hence should be withdrawn. Either the State or the PIO should bear the said cost.

  8. As all the citizens of the State are not literate, a written Application Form if at all prescribed should be made optional. Oral request to the PIO for information should be acceptable. If at all an application for information is required, it should be simple and contain only the communication address of the applicant, which is sufficient as per the Central Act. The demand for voter identity card or passport etc of the applicant is simply unnecessary and should be withdrawn.

  9. The mode of payment by the applicant should be made simple. It should be as per the convenience of the applicant. In addition to the prescribed modes of payment, such other modes as postal order, money order, bank draft or bankers’ cheque etc. should also be accepted.

  10. The provision of realizing the penalties or damages from the citizen's landed property should be scraped.

Before giving a final shape to the Rules under the RTI Act, the government should invite public opinion giving at least one-month time.