Govt ducks RTI reply on corrupt babus

Avdesh Kumar Singh Rathore,the special secretary in the Department of Appointment and Personnel,cited a Central Information Commission order,dated November 20,2006,which said information can be provided only in the form in which it exists and cannot be “created or generated” for the information seeker.

However,the Section 7 (9) of the RTI Act clearly says information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question.

Salim Beig,a resident of Moradabad and president of Manav Sewa Samiti,had sent an RTI application to the Chief Minister’s Office on April 13,2009.

He asked for details on three counts: (1) List of names and addresses of IAS officers against whom inquiries in corruption cases are pending,(2) Has the government fixed any time limit for completing these pending inquiries? If yes,provide with the file notings,and (3) The list of officers or agencies conducting the probe and the charges against the officers.

The application was routed to the office of principal secretary,Department of Appointment and Personnel,on April 24,2009.

Beig,who has now filed an appeal at the State Information Commission,said his application was first rejected on May 20,2009 by Ashok Kumar Srivastava,the PIO of the Department of Personnel,on the ground that the information seeker is an organisation and not a “natural person” and therefore he cannot be provided with any information.

In an appeal filed before the appeal officer,Beig has submitted he sought information as a person and the name of the organisation was mentioned as part of his address.