Times of India: Thane: Tuesday, March 13, 2018.
A few former
corporators from Thane, who have been identified by the municipal
administration for ‘exploiting’ the RTI law for their ulterior motive, are
going to petition before the Bombay hight court against the TMC’s move to
‘terrorise and tame’ them.
The municipal
body has prepared a detailed dossier on the ‘regulars’ who file applications
under the RTI act, seeking documents and information on specific projects most
of them related to the town planning department.
The
administration has clarified that in most cases, the information provided to
them under the RTI law had led to litigations and after some time the case was
withdrawn unilaterally. This raised suspicion about the motive of the
applicants.
The TMC then
approached the police to ‘discipline’ these RTI activists and to initiate
action against them.
The former
corporators, mostly from the BJP and Shiv Sena, blamed the administration for
creating a situation of constant threat of arrest in their minds by making
allegations of serious offences like extortion. This, the corporators said, was
a violation of their fundamental rights and suggested that the administration straighten
its acts first rather than trying to muzzle their voices.
A draft of
the petition, a copy of which is with TOI, stated that the move by the
administration is nothing but an attempt to pressurize and harass the
petitioners for their conduct and actions aimed towards welfare, benefit of the
citizens of the city of Thane.
“We have time
and again raised issues regarding illegal and unauthorized construction
activities going on in the city. We are planning knock on the doors of the
court and also question the administration as to why it is not curbing illegal
activities instead of pressurizing us. This is a violation of Section 21 of the
Right To Information Act, 2005 and we will pursue the case,” said Sanjay
Ghadigaonkar, a former corporator who is among the eight who has filed the
petition.
Meanwhile,
all this has drawn the ire of former state information commissioner Shailesh
Gandhi who is known to have censured the Thane municipal administration and
suggested they be more proactive in ensuring any loopholes in the system were
plugged, leaving no scope for these activists to operate.
We have time
and again raised issues regarding illegal and unauthorized construction
activities going on in the city. We are planning knock on the doors of the
court and also question the administration as to why it is not curbing illegal
activities instead of pressurizing us. This is a violation of Section 21 of the
Right To Information Act, 2005 and we will pursue the case.
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