Times of India: Chennai: Thursday,
November 17, 2016.
The Tamil
Nadu State Information Commission (TNSIC) has summoned the public information
officer (PIO) of the Institute of Distance Education of Madras University and
Government Arts College, Salem, for an inquiry after an RTI applicant asked for
the particulars of an examination invigilator who he claimed was unqualified
for the job.
The
petitioner, G Sugavanam, a resident of Salem, filed the RTI petition in March,
applying for the details of a person who acted as the invigilator at an
examination that he [the petitioner] had taken.
This
information is usually exempted, on the judgment of the chief information
commissioner, from the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, as it is
classified as personal information under section 8(1)(j) of the Act. In this
case, however, chief information commissioner K Ramanujam IPS (retd) made an
exception.
In an order
dated October 24, Ramanujam noted that the petitioner had "levelled an
allegation that the invigilator was an unqualified person and had not completed
undergraduation" and this merited an inquiry.
Ramanujam
said the PIO must inform TNSIC about the criteria or qualifications required
for appointment as an invigilator.
It also
summoned the head of the history department of Government Arts College for the
inquiry. This was because the PIO had forwarded the petition to the HoD instead
of the PIO of Government Arts College, Salem, where the exam was conducted.
The
information commission will give the university and college a fair chance
during the inquiry, with Ramanujam directing petitioner Sugavanam to bring any
record, including any complaint filed with the authorities, about the alleged
irregularity relating to the invigilator.
Ramanujam
also directed that the information sought by the applicant in his RTI petition
need not be furnished by the PIO till the information commission takes a
decision on the issue.
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