PIO has to provide the information as available in his record. If the information is available in the form of soft copy, you can demand that information through soft copy in a separate application. If that record is available in hard copy,m PIO is not supposed to convert that hard copy information into soft copy to provide it to applicant. Hope the matter is clear. The soft copy lacks certain advantages, as they are not valid in a court. If the information is in certified copy, then it is of secondary evidence value in proceedings.
PIO is supposed to provide the information within 30 days from date of receipt of application. If the application was sent by Regd post, the deliverey status can be tracked in indiapost, and 3o days must be counted from date of receipt. However, if he has demanded the fees within 30 days, the period of demand to receipt must be excluded while computing 30 days. PIO is under obligation to demand the fees after showing such calculation clearly and should also state the mode of remittance.
If you have asked for voluminous information, the charges may become heavy. PIO is supposed to charge Rs.2/- per A4 size copy. Wherever the information is voluminous, applicant has to seek inspection, select relevant and important material and pay to that pages only.
Everything depends on the value and urgency of the information. If information through certified copies are valuable, applicant goes for that as he may be getting more benefit.
After reading the above, you can decide yourself whether PIO has violated any rules and regulations. You can go for second appeal and wait for 18 months to 30 years depending on SIC functioning, and can get the documents free of cost, if IC decides as such. It appears from the dates that PIO has responded within 30 days from receipt. IC will not consider one or two days delay as serious violation, as selecting of 5000pages itself takes lot of time. You are aware that it costs you that much. Reminders are not necessary in RTI as PIO is under obligation to provide or deny information within 30 days, and if information is not received within 30 days, applicant can file first appeal on grounds of deemed denial.
