The
Times of India: Chennai: Friday, October 19, 2012.
A Tamil Nadu
Information Commission order directing the registrar-general of the Madras HC
to furnish copies of a writ petition filed in 1988 and counter-affidavit filed
in the matter along with the final orders to an RTI applicant was stayed by a
division bench on Thursday.
The bench
comprising Justice P Jyothimani and Justice Aruna Jagadeesan stayed the May 15
order of the information commission, on a writ petition filed by the
registrar-general of the court, G Chockalingam.
In his
petition, Chockalingam submitted that when the RTI application was received
from A Kanagaraj of Tuticorin, the assistant public information officer had
sent a reply in April last year stating that he could apply for copies of the
documents by making an application to the copyist department in the court.
Another identical reply was sent in December last year. In spite of the
replies, the applicant submitted a fresh RTI query on December 23, 2011 seeking
all documents along with typed set of papers. After the pleas were not considered,
he approached the information commission.
Chockalingam
said the commissioner had erred in entertaining the application, as the earlier
applications were disposed of as per the statute. The Madras High Court
Appellate Side Rules had provision for obtaining copies of documents pertaining
to cases filed in the court, he said.
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