#Postbox india full
#Postbox india verification

To get a post box, you can approach the post office that usually delivers mails to your address. All correspondence except registered/insured/value payable articles will be delivered to the post box. They are only for receiving incoming mail. Postboxes are similar to bank lockers and are located within post offices. Mumbai-based RTI activist Krishnaraj Rao adds, “Section 6(2) was earlier open to interpretation, and authorities sometimes insisted on getting personal details of the applicant.” He says that there may be officers who are still unaware of the circular, but then activists can now educate them by showing them the circular or attaching it with their application.Īny person or organisation can get a post box by paying a rent of Rs 150 per year or Rs 50 per quarter-year. This would be quick and easy – the cost of photocopying and sending documents would also be cut,” says Goenka. “If a person has given his address or post box number in the application, the authority can send their responses and documents to his email id. In mid-January, Goenka sent a petition to the Ministry of Personnel, requesting that RTI replies be sent to applicants via email. Pic: Farzana Cooper (India Together Files) The High Court said in its order that where the legislature was of the opinion that applicants did not have to disclose personal information, authorities should not insist on the same. Section 6(2) of the RTI Act, 2005, clearly says that applicants should not be asked to give any personal detail, except what is needed to contact them. The Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ashim Kumar Banerjee and Justice Debangsu Basak consequently passed the order, which, in effect, is only an explicit clarification on the existing law. Goenka then submitted his petition to the Calcutta High Court, after removing the reference to emails. It also said that allowing applications through email could lead to misuse of RTI, as anybody would be able to send applications from anywhere. The SC had said that it could not give any directions on this, as law-and-order was a state subject. Goenka had initially filed the PIL at the Supreme Court in 2012, praying that applications should be allowed to file RTIs using both post box number and email for the sake of safety of applicants. Speaking to India Together, he says that activists may still get identified, but that this order may at least bring down the number of such cases.

#Postbox india verification

He has earlier won court orders in many PILs, including those on removal of tinted glass from vehicle windows, mandatory address verification for prepaid mobile connections etc. Goenka is not an RTI activist in fact, he describes himself as a PIL activist.

#Postbox india full

The order came on the back of a PIL filed by Avishek Goenka asking that authorities should not insist on full address of an applicant, when a post box number may effectively conceal his identity. In the order, the court had also said that government agencies should not reveal applicants’ details, especially on their websites. Government departments can insist on full address, only if they have any difficulty with the post box number. Backed by this, an applicant can now file an application using only his name, post box number, post office name and PIN code. On 8 January, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) under the Ministry, issued a memorandum about the court order to all state and central government ministries and organisations. The court had ordered the central government’s Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions to circulate a copy of the order among all concerned. The order says that applicants need not mention their full address in applications instead they can simply mention their post box number. However, a ruling by the Calcutta High Court last November, brings some hope as it assures better confidentiality for RTI applicants. But little has changed and the protagonists continue to live in fear. These are only two names in a long list of victims.Īctivist groups have repeatedly demanded government action in such cases, and also police protection for those under threat.

In 2010, Gujarat-based activist Amit Jethwa (33) was shot dead after he filed court cases about illegal mining in Gir Forest. In 2012, M Lingaraju (40) was hacked to death in Bangalore, after he exposed illegal assets acquired by a city corporator. Over the years, many anti-graft activists have been murdered or assaulted upon exposing corruption based on findings from Right To Information (RTI) applications made by them.