<p>In order to protect an information seeker from any adverse consequences, the government has decided to do away with a mandatory requirement of filing a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with full address of the applicant.<br /><br /></p>.<p>As a result, if an RTI plea is now filed with a post box number, the authorities cannot deny providing the information.<br /><br />Besides, the Centre also directed the authorities not to disclose personal details of the RTI applicants, while displaying the information, on the website with a purpose to avoid any future harassment.<br /><br />The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the nodal department under the transparency law, issued a memorandum on Wednesday, directing all authorities not to insist on information seekers to provide their full address for getting answers under the transparency law.<br /><br />The order–sent to different departments and authorities including chief secretary of all states on Wednesday–said the applicants could get information even after giving post box number.<br /><br />This was in compliance with a direction issued by the Calcutta High Court on a PIL filed by Avishek Goenka in November 2013.</p>
<p>In order to protect an information seeker from any adverse consequences, the government has decided to do away with a mandatory requirement of filing a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with full address of the applicant.<br /><br /></p>.<p>As a result, if an RTI plea is now filed with a post box number, the authorities cannot deny providing the information.<br /><br />Besides, the Centre also directed the authorities not to disclose personal details of the RTI applicants, while displaying the information, on the website with a purpose to avoid any future harassment.<br /><br />The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the nodal department under the transparency law, issued a memorandum on Wednesday, directing all authorities not to insist on information seekers to provide their full address for getting answers under the transparency law.<br /><br />The order–sent to different departments and authorities including chief secretary of all states on Wednesday–said the applicants could get information even after giving post box number.<br /><br />This was in compliance with a direction issued by the Calcutta High Court on a PIL filed by Avishek Goenka in November 2013.</p>
