CHENNAI Collectorate ignores information panel order

CHENNAI: Over two months after the Tamil Nadu Information Commission directed the Chennai Collectorate to furnish details sought by RTI activist R Natarajan at his doorstep within 48 hours, not a bit of information has been provided to him yet.

Besides, another directive by the Commission issued four months ago to the Chennai Collectorate to pay a token compensation of Rs 5,000 to Natarajan is yet to be honoured.

Natarajan was among the select few people from South India who were invited to the RTI awards function in New Delhi recently. He was honoured for being a crusader in unearthing information using the Right to Information (RTI) law.

“While people at the national level recognise me for (my) consistent efforts in ferreting information through RTI petitions, a few government agencies, including the Chennai Collectorate, never bother to even comply with the Commission’s orders to provide information,” Natarajan told Express.

If the authorities decide to ignore the Commission’s orders, then the whole law would become infructuous, he warned. In his three applications to the tahsildar, Mylapore-Triplicane taluk, Natarajan had sought information regarding encroachment of 14 grounds by a local firm in the Boat Club locality; details about illegal occupation of plot number 131 in St Mary’s Road; and permission to inspect the revenue department records in the taluk.

In the two petitions related to encroachment in Boat Club and St Mary’s Road, the Commission passed orders on October 19, 2009, ruling that the Chennai Collector had to personally ensure the supply of information to Natarajan within 48 hours.

Passing its order on Natarajan’s third case in August 3 last year, the Commission directed the Chennai Collector to make a token compensation of Rs 5,000 to Natarajan by recovering the amount from the erring public information officer. In all three cases, there has been no forward movement.