JUDGMENT :

SANDEEP SHAH, J.

1. By way of present writ petition, the petitioner has laid a challenge to the guidelines issued by the respondent University for applying for certified copies of the answer books under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as “the RTI Act”) and has also laid a challenge to the amended Ordinance notified by the respondent University in this regard on 06.09.2012.

2. Briefly stated the facts of the case are that the petitioner was pursuing her B.Sc. Nursing Course from the respondent University and as per her result for the final year, she had failed in two subjects i.e. (1) Midwifery Obstetrical Nursing and (2) Community Health Nursing-II.

3. Post declaration of the marks, the petitioner submitted an application for getting the certified copy of her answer books for the above subjects under the RTI Act and deposited the requisite fees.

4. In reply to the application so submitted, the respondent University vide its correspondence dated 02.02.2021 demanded a sum of Rs.1000/- (per answer-book) as processing fee as well as a sum of Rs. 80/- (Rs.2/- per page for 40 pages) alongwith postal charges of Rs.145/-. Thus a total sum of Rs.1225/- was demanded by the respondent University.

5. Being aggrieved against the same, the present writ petition has been filed alleging that the respondent University cannot charge the processing fess of Rs.1000/- as the same is in direct derogation to the provisions of the RTI Act and the rules framed thereunder.

6. The respondent University filed a reply to the writ petition and tried to justify the same while taking support from Section 7 of the RTI Act while asserting that as per Section 7, the respondent University is free to take charges i.e. further fee, representing the cost of providing the information. It has further been submitted that the charges have been duly decided in the meeting of the Board of Management wherein initial processing charge of Rs.2,000 was reduced to Rs.1,000/- in the meeting dated 01.12.2014, which was approved on 20.12.2014.

7. The respondent University has further tried to justify the processing fee charges while referring to the circular dated 12.10.2018 issued by the State Government on the basis of the legal opinion obtained from the Law Department and emphasized that though under the RTI Act, charges are fixed however, under special Rules/Act, different charges can be imposed/taken.

8. The respondent University has thereafter further filed an affidavit asserting therein that for the purpose of undertaking the work of dissemination of information, the respondent University has appointed three persons on contract basis and based upon the salary paid to them, charges have been fixed, which is totally justifiable, as around 6.5 lacs answer-sheets are stored in the University, out of which every year around 350 applications are received seeking the certified copy of the answer-sheets. Thus, calculating the salary paid to the employees annually, being Rs.3.60 lacs being divided by number of copies, a sum of Rs.1,028/- arrives and therefore, the processing fee of Rs.1000/- is justified and does not call for any interference by this court.

9. Learned counsel for the petitioner placed reliance upon the judgment passed by Division Bench of this Court in the case of Alka Matoria Vs. Maharaja Ganga Singh University & Ors. (D.B. Civil Writ Petition No.12471/2012), decided on 21.12.2012 to emphasize that identical processing fee of Rs.1,000/- was being charged by the Maharaja Ganga Singh University wherein the same argument was raised with regard to the fees being charged was in consonance with the expenses incurred for providing the information, still the Division Bench had set aside the Regulations wherein the condition of charging of Rs.1,000/- as processing fee was incorporated and had further directed that the fees cannot be charged more than the fee as contemplated under the RTI Act and the Rules framed thereunder.

10. Counsel for the