New Delhi: The recent submission of the Centre that non-resident Indians (NRIs) cannot file applications under the Right to Information Act to seek governance-related information from the Central government departments has not gone down well with activists.

While questioning the rationale behind such refusal of information when NRIs are being allowed to vote for forming the government, they have also noted that the move goes against the spirit by which the previous UPA government had facilitated ‘Indian citizens living abroad’ to even pay RTI fee through electronic Indian postal order (eIPO).

'NRIs not eligible to file RTI applications’

It was in response to an unstarred question (No. 3535) in Lok Sabha on August 8 that minister of state for personnel Jitendra Singh submitted that “only citizens of India have the right to seek information under the provisions of RTI Act, 2005. Non-resident Indians are not eligible to file RTI applications."

Stating that citizens of India can file online applications under the Act, he had noted that at present “systems of 2,200 public authorities have been aligned to receive, process and reply to online RTIs from the applicants".

The minister had also pointed out that any applicant can visit the portal – www.rtionline.gov.in – and select the desired ministry or department under the Central government and file an online RTI application. Also, he had noted that “a detailed user manual and frequently asked questions (FAQs) are available on the website to help in filing the application”.

'NRIs are Indian passport holders, hence citizens, so cannot be denied RTI right’

Reacting to the minister’s statement, RTI activist Commodore (Retd.) Lokesh K. Batra said denial of access to information to NRIs is odd since “NRIs are those who hold an Indian passport but remain outside India for more than 182 days in a financial year.” As such, he said, they remain citizens of India.

Batra also recalled how in March 2013 the Centre had launched the “Electronic Indian Postal Order”, which is commonly known as eIPO, for enabling the “Indian citizens living abroad” to pay RTI fee for filing applications with the public authorities in India.

“In October 2013 these facilities were extended for payment of RTI fee in 'Indian missions abroad' both from India and abroad',” he said, adding that thereafter “in February 2014 e-IPO facilities were extended for payment of RTI fee for Indian citizens living in India for payment of RTI fee”.

While the system has remained in place during the current BJP government at the Centre too, and now all Indians can use the facility of e-IPO from anywhere across the globe for accessing nearly 3,000 public authorities both within India and abroad, the response of the minister of state appears to be indicating a rollback of facilities for some of the categories of Indian citizens.

What has also surprised the RTI community is that the move has come at a time when a Bill extending the facility of 'proxy voting’ to overseas Indians has been passed by the Lok Sabha.

As such, RTI activist Neeraj Sharma questioned the logic behind denying the right to file RTI applications to NRIs saying while they can vote, why they cannot ask questions of the government.

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