For the month of May 2022, IFF has filed 7 Right to Information (“RTI”) applications and 4 first appeals. In response to our RTI application to Varanasi Smart City on the use of facial recognition by them, the PIO requested a sum of one lakh rupees as fees for a hard copy of the documents, without specifying the number of pages the document contains. This is against the letter and spirit of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (“the Act” or “the RTI Act”) which provides that information be given to the applicants at the cost of Rs 2/- per page.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://internetfreedom.in/transparency-report-may-2022/