Indian
railways have charged a fee of whopping RS. 1000 per copy of reservation
chart Under RTI. An RTI applicant Ravindra Vabale had asked copies of reservation charts . They have also attached copy of concerned circular. But if
we go and study earlier circulars it reveals how Babus play with the words to
avoid or dodge RTI queries. The circular
issued in 1994 is not available, but 2007 circular clearly shows that the fee of
RS. 750 was for verification purpose and not for the copy of reservation chart,
and that too was for the government departments.
2010
circular also mentions the uniform fee of Rs. 750/- per PNR for verifying
journey details but suddenly in 2011 words “verification of PNR” were replaced by the words “copy of reservation
chart” . and words “government departments” were replaced by words “any person”
. This is clear indicates that such was done to avoid or harass RTI requisitions.
Reproducing here the extract of all the three concerned circulars.
No.2006FlG-I/20/P/LTC
New Delhi, Dated: l0/01/2007
Instructions were
issued vide this office letter No.93/TG- I/20/P dated 04/05/1994 on the subject
quoted above wherein it was advised that a uniform fee of Rs.750/- per
verification should be charged by zonal railway from various Government departments who approach for verification of LTC Travel detail. A clarification has been sought by
Northern Railway on this account regarding the fee to be charged from the
following agencies in case they approach for verification of LTC Travel
details: -
l) Police/CBI in
different types of investigation/criminal cases. 2) Courts 3) Railway Vigilance
in various cases. 4) Railway refund offices for deciding refund cases. 5)
Various reports of the Railways to dispose off complaint cases. The matter has
been reviewed and it has been decided that: -
i. Verification fee may
not be charged from Police/CB1/Courts, in connection with investigation/hearing
of Civil/Criminal or any other cases. However, verification fee will be charged
in case of verification of LTC claims of the staff of these organisations.
ii. No verification fee
may be charged in Vigilance, Refund and Complaint cases being investigated by
Railways.iii Verification fee may be charged from all other agencies except
those mentioned in (i) & (ii) above.
CCMs/CCM (PMs) will,
have discretionary powers to waive off the fee in specific cases like requests
from different Commissions, Parliament or Legislative Secretariat etc.
Necessary instructions may be issued to all concerned and receipt of this
letter be acknowledged.
N0. 2006/TG-I/20/P/LTC
New Delhi, dated 31.08.2010
Please refer to this ofiice letter of even number dated
04.05.1994 and l0.0l .2007 (Commercial Circular No. 06 of 2007) intevalia
advising therein regarding charging of a uniform fee of Rs 750/- per PNR for LTC verification, and non-charging of this fee from
certain agencies as prescribed therein. Now a query has been raised whether
these charges are applicable for verifying journey details in other cases also.
2. The matter has been
considered at Board’s level and it is clarified that Zonal Railways should realise
a uniform fee of Rs.750/- per PNR for verifying journey details irrespective of
the fact whether it is for LTC verification or otherwise.
No.2006/TG-I/20/P/LTC
Pt. New Delhi, dated I3 .12.2011,
The issue has been
examined in consultation with Finance Directorate of Board’s office and it has been decided that the
following fee should be realized for furnishing a copy of reservation chart to
any person:~
(i) For furnishing a
copy of reservation
chart to any person, a fee of Rs. 1,000/- per page should be charged. In this case, party will be provided
a printout of the reservation chart taken out from the system Without
indicating the status of passenger viz. turning up/non-turning up.
(ii) In case of
furnishing of copy of working chart (having indication by TTEs/TCs relating to
turning up or non-turning up and other relevant details), a fee of Rs. 750/- per PNR should be charged for all the PNRs
indicated on that page.-
