Indian Express: Chennai: Tuesday, July 11, 2017.
A motor
mechanic, who had sought information on the status of a complaint he filed with
the state food safety department under the Right to Information (RTI) Act,
recently received a reply which is probably the lengthiest in the State.
The response
was so lengthy that paper sheets that were attached by the department weighed a
whopping five kilograms. Ironically, the petitioner did not get the answers to
his complaint.
M Kasimayan,
a Thiruvottiyur resident, had lodged a complaint with the commissioner of Tamil
Nadu Food Safety and Drug Control Administration department in July 2016 about
poor quality rice allegedly being served by a private departmental store in his
neighbourhood.
Though it was
forwarded to the designated food safety officer in Thiruvallur district, no
action was taken. Unhappy with this, Kasimayan filed an RTI petition with the
food safety department in August 2016.
Of his seven
questions, only three were answered, with the remaining questions (pertaining
to the specific case) referred to the designated officer in Thiruvallur.
Following
this, he was ignored three times, after which Kasimayan again wrote to the
state information commission on June 26, 2017, to initiate contempt
proceedings.
Fearing the
wrath of the commission, the public information officer of the food safety
department, C Balasubramanian, finally sent a reply the very next day. And
Kasimayan was startled to find several hundred sheets as a response.
”Though I had
sought details about follow-ups to my complaint filed on July 2016, the
department by mistake sent me details on follow-ups to all the complaints they
received since July 2016,” Kasimayan told Express.
However,
details on the exact action are taken with respect to the complaint were
missing again. He also expressed qualms over public money being misspent in the
form of providing irrelevant information.
Balasubramanian
was unavailable for comment, while Express was denied access when it tried
meeting him at his office.