Collectorate turns a blind eye to RTI plea

Collectorate turns a blind eye to RTI plea
Published Date: 12/26/2008 - (NIE)

G Saravanan

Chennai, December 25: Six months have passed since an RTI application was filed with the Chennai Collectorate, seeking details of the implementation of the Prime Minister’s scholarship for tsunami-affected children in Chennai district. But the office is still collecting the ‘details,’ as in their own words, “the chief education officer (CEO) did not provide it.” It is a clear case of passing the buck, K Bharathi, who sought the details through RTI, told Express. The answer given by the Collectorate showed they were not willing to part with the information (list of benefited children) to anyone, said the petitioner, also president of South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association (SIFWA).

The scholarship scheme was launched for the benefit of children, whose families were affected by the tsunami either in the form of loss of lives or livelihood. According to the scheme, such children were to get Rs 300 a month to pay school expenses. The assistance was provided directly, through their parents or guardians. For this, individual bank account in the name of each beneficiary was opened by the State Government. Bharathi strongly suspected that the scholarship for tsunami-affected children was diverted to ineligible students and hence the Collectorate was not ready to part with the information.

In his first RTI application on May 5 this year, Bharathi sought several details such as the number of applications received in Chennai for the scholarship, list of government and private schools which received it and the total amount disbursed towards scholarship till now.

In reply, the office sent a vague letter to Bharathi on June 4. “It can’t be called a reply. The letter was just sent to confuse us,” he said. For a clear question on the number of applicants, the Collectorate replied that the CEO of Chennai district did not provide it. The reply also assured of details, once the CEO sent it to the office. “Before disbursing scholarship amounts to the tsunamiaffected students, the department might have gathered the list of beneficiaries from the district CEO. Only then, they could have conducted a detailed verification of the claims. And the amounts could have been allocated, only on the basis of these details,” Bharathi said.

In its reply, the Collectorate had admitted that 6,200 students from 79 schools received the scholarship through the CEO in 2006-07 academic year. It also revealed that scholarship fund worth nearly Rs 13 lakh have been returned to the office during the same academic year. But it conveniently left out the details on the number of applications received in Chennai, the number of rejections and the grounds on which they were rejected.

Subsequently, Bharathi filed an appeal with the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission to direct the Collectorate to give a detailed reply in a time-bound order. But six months have passed, without a word, added Bharathi.