Officials who fail to provide information sought under RTI must be shown the door: Madras HC

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Officials who fail to provide information sought under RTI must be shown the door: Madras HC
The court also directed the TN government to issue a circular to all its departments, public sector units and corporations warning of the legal consequences of not furnishing information under the Act

Published: 07th September 2020 07:40 PM | Last Updated: 07th September 2020 07:40 PM | A+A A-
Madras High Court Madras High Court (File Photo | PTI)By Harish MuraliExpress News Service
CHENNAI: Censuring the TNPSC for failing to furnish information under the RTI Act, the Madras High Court observed that government officials are experts in evading such questions and should be shown the door.

The court also directed the Tamil Nadu government to issue a circular to all its departments, public sector units and corporations warning about the legal consequences of not furnishing information under the Act.

Dismissing the plea by the TNPSC challenging the orders passed by the Tamil Nadu Information Commission, Justice S Vaidyanathan ordered it to furnish the details sought within one month.

The retired deputy collector P Muthian of Tiruchy sought information under the RTI Act in 2008 to the Public Information Officer on the total number of vacancies for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008, number of seats allocated to the backward community and also the seats to the Muthuraja, Muthriyar, Ambalakarar and Vanniya Kula Shatriar sub-castes.

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As the TNPSC did not give the information, the petitioner moved the State Information Commission. The information commission had also in 2009 ordered the TNPSC to give the details to the RTI applicant. The TNPSC challenged the information commission’s order in the high court.

The TNPSC’s counsel argued that the details sought for by the RTI applicant are not at all warranted and that it would amount to an invasion of privacy and cannot be accepted, especially when the selection itself is based on caste wise quota.

The court quoting several Supreme Court judgements also observed in its order, “Even the apex court clearly held that the office of Chief Justice will come under the purview of Right to Information (RTI), by observing that transparency does not undermine judicial freedom.”

Justice Vaidyanathan said, “Nowadays, officials adopt the tactic of answering mechanically that the information sought is exempted in the light of Section 8(1)(d) of the Act, without actually ascertaining whether the information sought falls within the ambit of the said provision.”

“Such officers must be taught a lesson and in my view, they are unfit to hold the post of Public Information Officer…… and they should be shown the door, so that it will be a lesson for other officers to act in accordance with the terms of the Act, failing which they may also face similar or more serious consequences,” he emphasized.

Ordering the TNPSC to furnish the information sought by the petitioner, the court also directed it to file a compliance report with the names of officials who had failed to discharge their
duties under the RTI Act, 2005.

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