Times
of India: Lucknow: Sunday, 06 December 2015.
Right to
Information Act 2005, conceived to bring transparency in the system by
providing government information to citizens, is being used by some residents
of Uttar Pradesh to meet a different goal: settling family disputes.
Information
commissioner (IC) of UP State Information Commission (UPSIC) Hafiz Rehman told
TOI that in the last one year, his court heard six cases where family members
confronted each other. Most such cases relate to property disputes and are
pending in various courts. Quick hearing and saving on hefty fee which is
otherwise paid to a lawyer has made the RTI route popular.
The latest is
the case of a man from Badaun who filed an appeal with the UPSIC seeking
information about his wife, a government teacher in Baghpat. He filed the
appeal after school authorities refused to give him details of his wife's
attendance and salary.
"My wife
wants me to abandon my parents and stay with her. She says she cannot give up
her job to stay with me," he said in his appeal. "She does not go to
work. School authorities are hand in glove with her and she gets salary for
doing nothing. If I could get her attendance record to prove this, she will
lose her job," he added.
Interestingly,
the man's father had helped his wife get a job but she deserted him soon after.
"He told me he is ready to make peace with his wife provided she gives up
her job and stays with him," said Usman, who has issued a notice to the
wife to appear in the next hearing and directed school authorities to provide
the information.
Few families
have also reached a happy end. Like this woman from Bareilly who approached the
commission to know whether her husband was a low caste Muslim after his
workplace refused to give his caste certificate. The woman was seeking divorce
saying her husband had kept his caste hidden for 15 years of their marriage.
The husband, however, said it was his refusal to throw his sister out of the
house that led the marriage to such a pass. The couple later reached a
compromise after counseling by the commission.
Quite a few
family disputes are pending at UPSIC, to be taken up for hearing this month.
The case of a man from Muzaffarnagar who has sought 'marriage certificate' of
his sister-in-law to prove she is not the wife of his late brother and should
not get his property is one of them. Interestingly, he is also a claimant to
his brother's property.
Another
bizarre case is of a 64-year old retired government employee from Bijnor who
has sought copy of family-register of his father-in-law to prove that he had
married once, and not twice, as alleged by his daughter. Family-register
contains details of family members, their spouses and children.
His daughter
had filed a case in district court claiming she was born to his first wife and,
therefore, should get half his property. She said the man married his wife's
younger sister after the former's death. However, the man claims that he has only
one wife and she is still alive.
In few cases
involving family disputes, RTI information has become the basis of police
inquiry. Take the case of Mithlesh Kumari from Bijnor who was given 60 bighas
of land by her father-in-law. Her husband's younger brother's wife allegedly
used fake identity certificate to pose as Mithlesh and sold off a portion of
the land.
The KYC
details sought from the bank, where the imposter had deposited the money after
the land deal, revealed the truth.
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