RBI approves RTI fee from abroad

RBI has pave the way for Indian citizens living abroad to pay the RTI fees by ePost. On a query from Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd.), RTI Activist, the man behind the initiative, RBI wrote “Foreign Exchange Department of the RBI has conveyed its ‘No Objection’ in the matter to Government of India The conditions include payment of fees should be under RTI Act only; payment gateway provider will be Axis Bank (as suggested by Dept of post); KYC norms and other FEMA requirements should be taken care of by the AD Bank; and overseas payment has to be made by debit / credit cards issued by banks having affiliation with one card payment networks authorized under PSS Act, 2007.As mentioned on January 22nd, Indian citizens abroad found it difficult to file Right to Information applications under the RTI Act, 2005, as it was difficult to pay the mandatory Rs 10 from overseas. Since the amount was so small, they had to resort to depending on relatives or friends in to pay the sum.As per the procedure, an Indian residing abroad can purchase electronic Indian Postal Orders by logging on to the ePO portal. The money can be transferred electronically from ePO to the concerned Chief Public Information Officer (CPIO). The CPIO can verify the IPO number by logging on to the ePO portal.Dept of Posts will have to now work out technology solutions to meet the conditions laid down by RBI.