The court emphasized that the requirement for separate applications under Rule 3 of the High Court Rules was intended to prevent frivolous applications and did not contravene the object of the Right to Information Act.

1. This public interest petition has been filed alleging that Rules 3 and 10 of the Delhi High Court (Right to Information) Rules, 2006 are not in conformity with the provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005. It is also alleged that the High Court Rules do not provide access to information to the citizens falling under “below poverty line” category at free of cost.

2. The Right to Information Act, 2005 ( for short 'the Act') has been enacted to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority. Section 28 of the Act empowers the competent authority to make Rules to carry out the provisions of the Act. In exercise of the powers so conferred, the High Court of Delhi made Delhi High Court (Right to Information) Rules, 2006 (hereinafter referred to as the “High Court Rules”) and the same were notified vide notification No.180/Rules/DHC dated 11.08.2006. So far as the Courts subordinate to High Court of Delhi are concerned, a different set of Rules, viz., Delhi District Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2008 ( hereinafter referred to as the “District Court Rules”) have been made vide notification No.162/Rules/DHC dated 06.05.2009.

3. Rules 3 and 10 of the High Court Rules, which are impugned in the present writ petition read as under:

"Rule 3. Application for seeking information [Explanation:- For each information sought, separate application shall be made. However, where more than one information sought is consequential or related to one another, applicant will .be permitted to seek them in one application.]

(a) Any person seeking information under the Act shall file an application from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. and 2 P.M. To 4 P.M. on a Court working day to the authorized person in Form A and deposit application fee as per Rule 10 with the authorized person;

(b) The authorized person shall duly acknowledge the application as provided in Form B.

Provided that a person who makes a request through electronic form shall ensure that the requisite fee is deposited in cash, Indian Postal Order, Demand Drafts, Pay Order with the authorized person within 15 days of his sending the request through the electronic form and through post, failing which his application shall be treated as dismissed.

Rule 10. Charging of application Fee - (i) The authorized person shall charge the fee at the following rates, namely:

(A) Application Fee

(i) Information not relating to Rule 4(iv) 50 Rupees above per application

(ii) Information other than (i) above 50 Rupees per application

(B) Other fees-

SI.No. Description of information Price/Fee in Rupees

1. Where the information is available in the form of a priced publication Price So fixed

2. For other than priced publication Rs.5.00 per page

4. The contention of the petitioners is that the requirement under Rule 3 to make separate applications for each information, is inconsistent with the object sought to be achieved by the Act. Regarding Rule 10, it is contended that the fees prescribed @ Rs.50/- per application and Rs.5/- per page for other than priced publication is unreasonable and exorbitant apart from being contrary to sub-section (5) of Section 7 of the Act. The further contention is that the High Court Rules, which are silent about the applications received from the persons who are below poverty line cannot be held to be in conformity with the mandatory provisions of 7(5) of the Act, which expressly provides that no fees shall be charged from the persons who are below poverty line.

5. When the matter was taken up on 18.11.2015, it was brought to our notice by Mr.Rajiv Bansal, the learned counsel representing the respondent that the issues raised in the petition regarding the application fees prescribed in Rule 10 and the information to be furnished to the persons who are below poverty line free of co