Refusal to accept an application on the ground that the demand draft/bankers cheque/ IPO submitted by the applicant has been drawn in the name of the accounts officer may amount to refusal to accept the application. It may result into imposition of penalty by the Central Information Commission on the concerned Central Public Information Officer under which one of the following Sections of RTI Act, 2005 ?

Section 20(1) specifies that a penalty of two hundred and fifty rupees each day till application is received or information is furnished, subject to a maximum of twenty-five thousand rupees, may be imposed if the PIO has, without any reasonable cause, refused to receive an application for information or has not furnished information within the time specified, or malafidely denied the request, or knowingly given incorrect, incomplete or misleading information or destroyed information which was the subject of the request or obstructed in any manner in furnishing the information. Refusal to accept an application on an unreasonable ground like the fee payment mode can fall under refusal to receive the application without reasonable cause.