Minors cannot seek information under the RTI Act, the Uttar Pradesh information commission has said while dismissing the plea of a fourth class student who had sought details of missing documents from the chief minister's office.
Surprisingly, the Right to Information Act does not have any clause where age is the criterion for filing information seeking applications. It only mentions that a "citizen of India" can demand information from public authorities by paying a fee of Rs10.
Chief information commissioner at Central information Commission AN Tiwari also said that the Act does not limit its use by people above the age of 18 years.
"There is no restriction of age limit. The Act allows a citizen of India to file the application," Tiwari said.
The case in point is of a nine-year old Aishwarya Sharma who had approached chief minister Mayawati's office with a hand written complaint on a notebook page about a garbage dump in front of her school.
