Bangalore Mirror: Bangalore: Monday,
April 17, 2017.
Former Tamil
Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has not left behind any will mentioning an
inheritor to her huge assets or even an administrator, as per information got
through RTI so far. In the absence of an official will or document, and knowing
that she kept away from her blood relatives, her properties should be declared
state property, says RTI activist S Bhaskaran, who pursued the information.
The RTI
pursuit on information about any official document/will by Jayalalithaa has
revealed that Tamil Nadu government departments seem to have no records of any
official will left behind by her. The TN chief secretary’s office, from where
the information was first sought, had asked Bhaskaran to get the information
from the commercial taxes and registration department. But the latter
department, in a recent reply, has said it has no such documents either.
THE
PURSUIT
Bhaskaran had
initially filed an RTI application with the Tamil Nadu government to this
extent on January 24, 2017. The purpose was to find out whether her properties including her residence, the documents of which were seized and preserved in
the city court in a disproportionate assets (DA) case against her (as she had
been acquitted at the time of her death) would be declared state properties
if no will existed, Bhaskaran explained.
In his
application for information on her will sent to the chief secretary of Tamil
Nadu, Bhaskaran had sought certified copies of any will registered or executed
by Jayalalithaa regarding appointment of her successor/inheritor or
administrator with regard to her movable and immovable properties.
There was no
reply from the CS’s office within the stipulated 30 days. Then on February 28,
he filed first appeal in the case. But the same day, he received a reply from
the chief secretary’s office, directing him to ask for the information from the
PIO (Public Information Officer) of commercial taxes and registration
department, which is the department concerned where all agreements, sale deeds,
gift deeds or wills are registered.
He had also
been asked to attach a banker’s cheque, a DD, a treasury challan or court fee
stamp to get the same as postal order was not acceptable in TN.
But
interestingly, that department, to which he had filed a separate RTI
application on March 4, too, claimed to have not maintained any records and
that no records sought were available.
In its reply
dated April 5, the undersecretary to the state government, commercial taxes and
registration department, said, “I’m directed to invite attention to your
petition cited and to state that the details of the document registered in the
sub-registrar offices of state are not maintained in the commercial taxes and
registration department secretariat Chennai – 9. Hence I’m to inform you that
no details as requested in your petition cited are available with the
commercial taxes and registration department.”
With the
custodian of registration records the commercial taxes and registration
department itself denying having any such documents (as all the
sub-registrars come under them), it seems there is no such will, Bhaskaran
said.
Seeking a
clear answer, on Tuesday he again filed an appeal on the same.
“The chief
secretary’s office itself directed to seek information from the commercial
taxes and registration department. The sub-registrar offices come under the
very department and the department saying it has no information maintained by
sub-registrars, is strange. This means, either there is no will existing as the
commercial taxes and registration department claims to have no documents, or it
could be an attempt to dodge information. First appeal has been filed to get a
clear ‘yes’ or ‘no’ although they have maintained to have no information, which
means there is none. If no reply comes within 45 days, an appeal will be filed
with TN information commission,” Bhaskaran said.