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State
Level RTI: West Bengal
Law
In
May 2005, the national Right
to Information Act 2005 was passed by Parliament. The RTI Act
2005 received Presidential assent on 15 June and came fully into
force on 12 October 2005. (For more information on the passage of
the RTI Act 2005 and implementation at the national level, click
here.)
The RTI Act 2005 covers all Central, State and local government
bodies and applies to the State Government of West Bengal.
The High Court at Calcutta notified The Calcutta High Court (Right to Information) Rules 2006 which was published in the Kolkata gazette on 2 February 2007 and came in to effect from that day.The
West Bengal Government has started implementing the RTI Act 2005.
The Government has issued "West
Bengal Right to Information Rules, 2006". The West Bengal Right to Information Rules 2006 was amended vide a notification by the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Government of West Bengal. This was published in the gazette on 11 November 2008.
For
a list of Public Information Officers and Appellate Authorities
designated by the State Government, click here.
Details
of Fee & Costs
| Application
|
Rs
10 |
| Mode
of payment |
Court fee, Non-judicial stamp paper of rupees ten, Demand Draft, Bankers Cheque, Indian Postal Order, payable in favour of " (name of the link bank) a/c Government of West Bengal, RTI Act"
|
| Additional
Fees: |
|
(A-4)
paper created or photo copies |
Rs
2 per page |
Large size paper |
Actual cost price |
Sample
or models |
Actual
cost price |
Floppy/CD/diskette
or any other electronic mode |
Rs
50 per item |
Inspection
of records |
Rs 5 for each 15 minutes or a fraction thereof
|
Publication
and printed form |
Actual
cost fixed and Rs 2 per page of photocopy and information
in printed form |
Second Appeals and complaints against non-disclosure of information may be filed with the West Bengal State Information Commission
State
Information Commission
|
S.N.
|
Name
of Commissioner
|
Contact
|
|
1.
2.
|
Mr. Arun Kumar Bhattacharya
State Chief Information Commissioner
Mr. Sujit Kumar Sarkar
State Information Commissioner |
Bhabani
Bhavan (2nd floor)
Alipore, Kolkata - 700027
Telefax: 033-24791966
E-mail: scic-wb@nic.in
Website: http://wbic.gov.in |
Newsupdates,
Activities & Advocacy
- Allowing greater transparency in the evaluation
system, Calcutta High Court on 5 February 2009 ruled that a
student has the right to see his answer sheets, and educational
institutions should allow it. A division bench of Calcutta High
Court of Chief Justice S.S. NIjjar and Justice Dipankar Dutta
went by the judgment of Justice Sanjib Banerjee of the same
court and held that all agencies conducting exams are bound
to show the answer script if an examinnee demands it under the
Right to Information Act 2005 within four weeks of their filing
the application. All agencies from Calcutta University to ICSE/CBSE
and various school authorities will come under the purview of
the order. The ruling will come into effect when a certified
copy of the order reaches the examination conducting agencies.
With this landmark judgment it becomes mandatory for all dissatisfied
examinees to look at the answer scripts. (6 February 2009)
- Replying to a question in the house, Chief
Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee has said that four
committees have been set up under the Central Information
Commission to expedite the process of gathering and disseminating
information including a Monitoring Commitee, Website Committee,
Rules Commitee and Intelligence and Security Agency. He also
stated, that after the state-level office has been made operational,
offices in the district level will also be set up.
- The Department of Personnel and Administrative
Reforms (DPAR) has finalized draft rules for the implementation
of the RTI Act 2005. The draft rules have been sent to the Law
Department for vetting and amendments. The State Government
is yet to set up the State Information Commission though, DPAR
officials have made an outlay of approximately Rs. 20 crores
for setting up and running the Commission.
Resources
& Articles
Government
CHRI
- CHRI (2005) Forwarding Information Requests and
Appeals: A Step by Step Guide for Assistant Public Information
Officers under the Right to Information Act 2005, prepared by
Mr Venkatesh Nayak.
- CHRI (2005) Processing Information Requests:
A Step by Step Guide for Assistant Public Information Officers
under the Right to Information Act 2005, prepared by Mr Venkatesh
Nayak.
Miscellaneous
- DRCSC (January 2010) RTI Newsletter
- DRCSC (September 2009) RTI Newsletter
- The Calcutta Samaritans (2007) Right
to Information is our weapon (Bengali Booklet), prepared
by Ranjan Chakravarty.
- Staff Reporter (2006) Jyoti
Basus 14 Foreign Trips Cost State Rs 18 Lakh Only, 27 January,
The Statesman.
- Staff Reporter (2005) Raj
Bhawan Starts Website to Disseminate Information, 17 November,
UNI.
- Jayanth Jacob (2005) Finally,
Draft Rules for Act Ready, 8 November, Kolkata Newsline,
Express News Service.
- Indranil Chakraborty (2005) Will
the Bengal Tiger Vomit Information?, 31 October, The
Financial Express.
- Ravindra Kumar (2005) Its
Our Right, The Statesman.
- Jayanth Jacob (2005) In
Bengal, EC Makes a Start, Names Nodal Officers, 19 October,
Kolkata Newsline. Express News Service.
- Anjan Chakraborty (2005) Do-Nothing
Cogs in Do-Little Wheel, 11 October, The Statesman.
.
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