The
Hindu: Chennai: Friday, 31 July 2015.
The State
Information Commission has expressed its inability to accede to a request for
specific information as it could be “detrimental to the safety or preservation
of the record in question.”
The
information sought pertained to the number of seats in the post graduation
programmes (non-clinical) in the State medical education department and whether
there were adequate teachers to teach these subjects
Despite
repeated requests by this reporter, the response from the Directorate of
Medical Education was inadequate. The requests were made in January-end. The
Commission was approached in mid-March with a request to expedite the process.
Last week,
the State Information Commission responded saying the information cannot be
provided and cited a Supreme Court ruling in support of its decision. The
Commission further said, “Indiscriminate and impractical demands or directions
under RTI Act for disclosure of all and sundry information (unrelated to
transparency and accountability in the functioning of public authorities and
eradication of corruption) would be counter-productive.” It also maintained
that such questions would “adversely affect the efficiency of the
administration”, stating that “the Act should not be converted into a tool of
oppression or intimidation of honest officials striving to do their duty.”
Incidentally,
the department had responded partially to the first request for information on
February 11 and the second request, sent to the appellate authority, also
elicited only partial response, though the questions and answers are not
confidential in nature.
The State
Information Commission responded saying the information cannot be provided and
cited a Supreme Court ruling in support of its decision.
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