RTI Commissioner blocked info on assets: Activist

Press Trust Of India; Mumbai, November 04, 2010

An RTI activist has alleged that the Maharashtra Information Commissioner Ramanand Tiwari, whose son Onkar got a flat in the Adarsh housing complex, stonewalled information on the assets owned by him and other officials, who were beneficiaries in Adarsh.

“It has been two years since I applied to his office for the information. I am yet to get it,” said Pune-based RTI activist Vihar Durve. He first applied to the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the state government in November 2008.

In December, an undersecretary and PIO replied that as the officers had retired, the information of their assets could not be made available.

A reply by the PIO said the information on the assets of the officials concerned was destroyed at the level of joint secretary Seema Vyas, who was authorised to destroy it, as the officials had retired from service. Interestingly, Vyas is among the beneficiaries of Adarsh Society.