Deccan
Chronicle: Chennai: Saturday, 08 November 2014.
Following a
report in DC that a municipal chairman in Pammal was speaking on the phone
while hoisting the tricolour during the recent Independence Day celebrations,
an RTI activist had petitioned the commissioner of municipal administration
regarding action that had been taken against the elected representative.
“Based on the
RTI petition, the commissionerate of municipal administration ordered an
enquiry against Pammal chairman C.V. Ilangovan and designated the municipal
administration regional director of Chengalpet to submit a report on the
issue,” RTI activist R. Natarajan said.
“The news
item carried by DC was a rude shock to me and it forced me to lodge a complaint
against the chairman,” he said.
The
commissionerate of municipal administration, in an RTI reply, said that the
chairman was pulled up for an inquiry where he regretted the event, clarifying
that there was no fault against him.
“In his
inquiry explanation, the chairman said that as a citizen of India, he had been
brought up with a nationalist spirit and respect for the flag. The incident
over the call was devised deliberately, a photograph taken and circulated with
ill intention. As a mark of respect to the tricolour, I was not even wearing
slippers. My act was not intentional, it was an instinctive act of answering
the phone to switch it off and there was no violation of National Honour Act,
Flag Code 1971,” the RTI reply said.
The
designated officer has cleared the inquiry after providing suitable
explanations, the RTI response pointed out.
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