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Launch of Electronic Indian Postal Order

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Right to Information/Launch of Electronic Indian Postal Order

Department of Posts, Government of India has launched a service called “eIPO (Electronic Indian Postal Order) to enable Indian citizens abroad to purchase an Indian Postal Order electronically by paying a fee online through e-Post Office Portal http://www.epostoffice.gov.in .  It can also be accessed through India Post website www.indiapost.gov.in .

 2. The detailed instructions for using the e-IPO service for payment of RTI fee on-line are contained in DOP & T’s OM No. 1/44/2009-IR dated March 22, 2013. Please click here to get the details. The facility of e-ipo has been extended to 176 Indian Missions/Posts abroad also vide Department of Personnel & Training OM NO 1/44/2009-IR dated October 7, 2013 (please click here to see the OM). Department of Posts has extended the eIPO service to Indian citizens residing in India also w.e.f. February 13, 2014 vide OM No. 1/44/2009-IR dated 13th February 2014 (Please click here to see the OM). The RTI applicants may, therefore, pay the RTI fee/cost of information, also on-line using the said e-IPO service, for seeking information from Ministries/Departments in India as well as from Indian Missions abroad.

3. It may be noted that information provided under the Act is available to citizens of India only. OCI/PIO Card holders are foreign nationals, holding foreign passports and are, therefore, not eligible to seek information under the RTI Act 2005. Applications should be submitted along with documentary proof of Indian Citizenship (like copy of personal particulars pages of passport). More information is available at http://rti.gov.in.The mailing address is Mr. Raj Kumar Singh, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India, Buitenrustweg 2, 2517 KD The Hague.

 4. It may also be pointed out that as per section 6(1) (a) of the RTI Act, 2005, a person who desires to obtain information under the Act is required to submit the application to the Information Officer of the concerned public authority. Applicants are, therefore, advised to send their requests under the RTI Act to the Embassy only when the subject matter can reasonably be presumed to pertain to the Embassy. While section 6(3) provides for the transfer of an application by a receiving PIO to another [concerned] PIO, this is clearly meant to cover situations where the application is addressed to a PIO on the assumption that it has been directed to the concerned PIO. Where the information required obviously does not pertain to the Embassy, the application may be addressed to the concerned PIO directly. “