Kerala - Kochi   

SIC pulls up Chief Minister’s Office

KOCHI: The State Information Commission (SIC) has pulled up the Chief Minister’s Office for taking more than 15 months to reply to a person who had sought certain information from the office and warned government officials against failing to comply with the provisions of the Right to Information Act (RTI).

In a strongly-worded order, Chief Information Commissioner Palat Mohandas said, “the delay had occurred due to the inaction on the part of the officials concerned in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.”

He said: “The request was being tossed around and no serious effort was made to respond to the request.” “The commission will caution all concerned to be alert and vigilant in dealing with requests/appeals as received from the citizens under the RTI Act 2005 in future,” Mr. Mohandas said.

Binny P.S. of Kochi had sought copies of the letter the Chief Minister had purportedly written to the President of India recommending the former Kerala Chief Justice V.K. Bali for the Supreme Court judgeship and the President’s purported reply.

Expressing resentment at the way the request was handled, Mr. Mohandas said: “The Joint Secretary, Chief Minister’s Public Grievance Redressal Cell had expressed his helplessness in receiving information from the Chief Minister’s Office, for onward transmission to the requester, and that way the request made on January 30, 2007, on a much-published issue had taken more than 15 months, when the Act stipulates a time limit of 30 days.”

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