Civil Hospital warns RTI applicant of legal action

The executive officer of the hospital in his reply on September 9 refused to give the information saying doing so will help vested interests. It also warned of a serious view of the matter if the correspondence was continued. Not satisfied with the reply,the applicant approached the appellate authority,Dr M M Anchalia,who is also the medical superintendent of the hospital.

Kantibhai Parmar,the applicant,close to the representative of a rival firm,in his appeal said the reply was not only misleading but also far from the truth.

Appellate authority Dr Manjula Anchalia in reply ( No 631/2009) dated September 11 told the applicant that no information as sought could be divulged because the matter was under probe. “Meanwhile,you are again instructed not to indulge in any correspondence in this case… still if you continue with the correspondence,the office will be compelled to take legal action against you for causing unnecessary hindrance in the government administration,which may be taken note of,” she said.

Parmar said he had approached the Chief Information Commissioner against this letter in the last week of September. “Every citizen has the right to know. They cannot threaten me like that. They may approach any authority against me but they have to behave in their replies,” he said.

While Anchalia was busy in meetings,a senior official in the CIC said the threat did not stand procedural scrutiny. “The appellate authority is not competent to issue such threats to applicants or take any legal action. All it can do is give a proper and polite reply,” he said,asking the applicant to contact the CIC immediately.