Bangalore Mirror: Bangalore: Wednesday, March 02, 2016.
An RTI trail
seeking details of the 1,400 sq ft plot on 25, Jain Temple Road in VV Puram,
that has an ongoing construction of a temple, reached the state information
commission (KSIC) after the BBMP failed to produce documents under RTI to prove
land ownership and other details.
The
appellant, BN Sreenivas, in August 2014, first sought the sanction plan, BBMP
approvals and action-initiated under the Karnataka Municipal Corporations' Act
(KMC Act). A seven-day deadline was set in response to his first appeal in
November 2014. Consequent appeals on July 2015 and September 2015, both
received 30-day deadlines. These were followed by appeals at the RTI Lok Adalat
in December 2015 and Feb 2016. All five hearings, though, proved futile since
neither the PIO nor the AEE could furnish the information.
The PIO
claimed that on Jul 2 2015, the applicant was informed about the 'issuance of
notice to the temple to produce the documents', and that 'the temple
authorities had produced none'. The fact remained that the information sought
had still not been provided and so the commission sent out another order on Feb
23.
"It is
hereby considered suitable to ascertain status of the land pertaining to the
illegal and unauthorised temple construction in the said case - if it belongs
to BBMP or private individual, and initiate action as per KMC Act. G Kumar
Naik, commissioner, BBMP, is hereby directed to initiate disciplinary action
against R Madhu, PIO, and AEE, Kempegowdanagar sub-division, BBMP for not
acting in first place, under Sec 20 (2) of the RTI Act and submit report under
Sec 19 (8) (a)," L Krishnamurthy, in-charge chief information
commissioner, has said in his order.
Speaking to
BM, worshippers at the temple denied any violation, saying it was run by Shri
Rajender Suri Guru Mandir Trust, and had existed for over three years. The
management failed to respond to BM's repeated attempts to get in touch and hear
their version. A neighbour, Prakash Bhandari, also denied any violation saying
that the land was trust property, with a sale deed in its name, and the
construction was on after having completed due formalities. When asked why the
sanction plan was not produced before BBMP despite their having issued a
notice, Bhandari claimed the temple, which had all documentation, had not
received any intimation.
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