Bangalore Mirror: Bangalore: Wednesday, June 28, 2017.
In a curious
case regarding a document bearing a thumb impression, four sub-registrars who
worked in real estate hub Devanahalli have paid dearly for ignoring the thumb
rule at a registrar office - to safeguard papers.
After a file
bearing the thumb impression pertaining to a sale deed went missing, the state
information commission ordered initiation of criminal proceedings against 8
including four sub-registrars, who worked in Devanahalli. The registration
department, in a cover-up exercise after the mess came to light, initiated
departmental action against the eight officials. However, the information
commission ordered criminal action under the Public Records Act, which can land
officials behind bars for five years.
The officials
in the dock are Imtiaz Ahmed, district registrar, Ramanagara, SR Vasanth Kumar,
retired senior-sub registrar, KM Nagabhushan currently sub-registrar,
Bommanahalli, N Manjunath, sub-registrar, Chamarajpet, one first division
assistant, a second division assistant, and two attenders.
“Permission
to initiate disciplinary action against a group A officer and disciplinary
action against the others has to be accorded within three months,” the
information commission ordered recently, while hearing a case of missing file
bearing a thumb impression.
This, after
the registration department had submitted that government sanction was required
to proceed with legal action against a group A officer, the officer in this
case being Imtiaz Ahmed. The commission had ordered registering of an FIR
against all the officers responsible for the missing document.
The case
An applicant,
N Shivakumar, had sought information for the first time from the PIO (Public
information officer) and sub-registrar, Devanahalli.
Kumar, in
July 2014 had sought documents pertaining to a land parcel bearing old no.10,
Sonnappanahalli, Bengaluru north, and transaction dated 10.06.1968 and
documents pertaining to transaction on 10.09.1965. This included documents
bearing the thumb impression of those involved in the land transaction. While
all the documents had been issued, this one bearing a thumb impression had not
been issued. Upon pursuance, the officials had said that the document had been
submitted to court.
But as the
officials never revealed which court they had submitted it to, Shiva Kumar
moved the information commission, which, upon hearing the matter, ordered an
inquiry into the whereabouts of the document. The inquiry found the document
missing and after the commission’s intervention, the department of registration
zeroed in on the eight officials, pinning the responsibility on them.
The
information commission had ordered that criminal proceedings be initiated
against all under the Public Records Act, which may land officials behind
prisons if charges are proved. This, a registration department officer
maintained, was te first of its kind.
“Four
sub-registrars facing criminal action is a first in the department. This is an
alarm bell as they are always accountable for the documents under them. The
Karnataka State Public Records Act and Public Records Rules provisions have
been invoked in this RTI case, which is a first too. This has resulted in the
action. A case of information denial unearthing a case of a missing file and
then action recommending an FIR is the first we have seen,” a senior stamps and
registration department officer maintained.