Express News Service : Tue Sep 07 2010 : Chandigarh :
Filing an application under the Right to Information Act at the UT Estate Office is not an easy task.
The biggest hindrance is the verification of application by the sub-divisional officer concerned; only then will the application be accepted.
A councillor of the Municipal Corporation who went to the Estate Office to file an RTI application today had similar trouble. Councillor Chander Mukhi Sharma was asked to get the application verified from the SDO.
Sharma says, “It is against the essence of RTI that we are being asked to get the application verified by an official. People who come here end up wasting time visiting the SDO.”
After a heated arguments with officials, Sharma’s application was accepted without verification. Sharma alleged that while a receipt of the money paid for filing the application was given, the officials concerned did not receive the application.
He said people should not be harassed in this manner. “This seems like an attempt to dissuade people from filing applications,” he says.
Assistant Estate Officer Hargunjit Kaur said she is not aware of such a practice and would look into it.
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