Kerala - Kochi   

SIC order to provide information

KOCHI: The State Information Commission (SIC) has asked the government to provide a copy of the report of the high-level committee that investigated Harrisons Malayalam company’s land dealings to an information-seeker under the Right to Information Act.

State Information Commissioner P.N. Vijayakumar, on a complaint by D.B. Binu of Kochi, ordered that the report be made available to him within a month. The commissioner said access to a public document could not be denied to a citizen for long on the excuse that the document was pending with the State Cabinet. “The evidence in this case and records would show that this mater was under consideration of the Cabinet for some time and is still being continued for one reason or other,” the order said. The complainant had sought from the Home Department a copy of the report of the committee, headed by the Principal Secretary, Revenue, which investigated the allegations of large-scale transfer of ownership of land given out to it on lease. However, the Revenue Department’s public information officer (PIO) rejected the request saying the copy could not be given as it was under the consideration of the Cabinet.

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