Supreme Court caps RTI fees at Rs 50, Rs 5 for photocopying

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today capped maximum RTI fees to be charged by all government authorities at Rs 50 per application and Rs 5 for photocopying charges, acknowledging concerns expressed by RTI activists that excessive fees may act as a deterrent for information seekers.

A two-judge bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and UU Lalit passed the order on a batch of petitions challenging the RTI rules of various High Courts and the Chhattisgarh Assembly which had prescribed high fees.

Activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan appearing for the petitioners alleged that the higher fees would disincentivise information-seekers.


The petition filed by the NGO Common Cause claimed that the Central Information Commission had repeatedly asked the Allahabad High Court to modify its RTI rules, but its pleas were ignored.

The Allahabad High Court was charging Rs 500 for a reply under the RTI Act, the petition claimed.

A similar plea was filed against the Chhattisgarh High Court which had dismissed a petition of an applicant Dinesh Kumar Soni, and imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on him for seeking information.

In his petition, Soni had challenged the Rule 5 and Rule 6(1) of the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha Secretariat Right to Information (Regulation of fees and costs) Rules 2011, which require that a person making an application under section 6(1) of the RTI Act was required to pay Rs 300.