Tamilnadu Informat Milnadu Information Commission
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TAMILNADU INFORMATION COMMISSION No.2, Thiyagaraya Road, Teynampet, Chennai 600 018. Tel: 24357580 Case No. 25743/Enquiry/A/2013 Case No.26429/Enquiry/A/2013 Date of Enquiry: 2 6-12-2013 Present: Thiru S.F. Akbar, B.Sc. B.L., State Information Commissioner. Petitioner : Thiru S.Muller, No.141, Perumal Kovil Street, Thiruverkadu, Poonamallee Taluk, Tiruvallur District. Public Authority : The Public Information Officer / Assistant Director, Central Survey Office, Chepauk, Chennai -600 005. The Public Information Officer/ Assistant Commissioner -II, Commissionerate of Land Administration, Chepauk, Chennai -600 005. The Public Information Officer/ Headquarters Deputy Tahsildar, Poonamallee Taluk Office, Poonamallee, Thiruvallur District. ---- The appellant Thiru Muller and the Public Information Officer s Thiru S.Surya Kumar, Assistant Director, Central Survey Office, Chepauk, Chennai -5, Thiru S.Ramachandran, Assistant Commissioner-II, Thiru K.Jayaprakash, Superintendent, Commissionerate of Land Administration, Chennai-5 and Tmt.G.Latha Headquarters Deputy Tahsildar, Poonamallee Taluk Office, Poonamallee, Tiruvallur District are present for today’s enquiry. The two Second Appeals dated 30.05.2013 filed by the appellant is taken up for enquiry today (26.12.2013). 2. In the R.T.I. Petition dated 10.10.2012 filed under Section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005; the appellant has sought for certain information in regard to Survey Numbers 203, 204, 205, 210 and 211 in Tiruverkadu Village, Poonamallee Taluk, Thiruvallur District, by means of inspecting the records. Originally the said application was made to the Joint Director/Public Information Officer, Survey and Settlement, Central Office, Chennai-5. In as much as those documents were not available in the said office, the application has been forwarded to the Tahsildar, Poonamallee Taluk, Tiruvallur District for compliance of the request of the appellant. Some of the information are available in the office of the Tahsildar, Poonamallee Taluk and the remaining are available with the Collector's Office at Tiruvallur. This has necessitated a copy of the request of the appellant being sent to the Collector's Office, Tiruvallur for compliance at their end. As a matter of fact, this Commission has had regard to the details of information. They relate to various registers maintained in the Revenue Department dating back to the year 1910 and as such furnishing of information in regard to these registers and documents would be a very tedious job resulting in dislocation of the regular work of the Public Authority. 3. The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Central Board of Secondary Education and Anr -Vs- Aditya Bandopadhyay and Ors {Civil Appeal No.6454 of 2011 dated 09-08-2011} has frowned upon such a request and the relevant portion is profitably extracted and it reads thus:- "The Act should not be allowed to be misused or abused, to become a tool to obstruct the national development and integration, or to destroy the peace, tranquility and harmony among its citizens. Nor should it be converted into a tool of oppression or intimidation of honest officials striving to do their duty. The nation does not want a scenario where 75% of the staff of public authorities spends 75% of their time in collecting and furnishing information to applicants instead of discharging their regular duties. The threat of penalties under the RTI Act and the pressure of the authorities under the RTI Act should not lead to employees of a public authorities prioritizing 'information furnishing', at the cost of their normal and regular duties." 4. The appellant has asked for permission to inspect those registers and documents and choose for himself the details required by him in respect of Survey Numbers 203, 204, 205, 210 and 211 in Tiruverkadu Village, Poonamallee Taluk, Thiruvallur District and such a request could be complied with by the Public Authorities, provided such information do not turn out to be voluminous resulting in information furnishing being prioritized to the regular work. In this case, as already pointed out, the information asked for by the appellant is available with two public authorities, one the Headquarters Deputy Tahsildar, Poonamallee Taluk and the other is Tiruvallur Collector's Office. The appellant can have access to those documents and registers in both the offices of the public authority, inspect them and ask for such of those documents which he requires for his purpose, of course, subject to the requirement of such information not becoming voluminous. The appellant is free to approach the PIOs of both the Public Authorities during office hours on any working day, except Monday and Friday. 5. In the course of enquiry, it has been brought to the notice of this Commission that earlier when the appellant was permitted to make similar inspection, documents were video graphed and photographed. I do not venture into an enquiry into this allegation, still it would be in the fitness of things that the appellant is instructed not to carry any such electronic gadgets and videograph or photograph the documents, for after all information could be obtained only by following the procedure contemplated by law. The Assistant Director, Central Survey Office, who is present for today's enquiry, says that the villages' maps are available with them. The appellant could have access to these maps and ask for copies, again subject to the requirements of the information not being voluminous. Nothing remains to be considered in both the appeals and accordingly these appeals are closed. STATE INFORMATION COMMISSION Orders approved this day 6 th January 2014 Under orders of the Commission ASSISTANT REGISTRAR Case No. 25743/Enquiry/A/2013 Case No.26429/Enquiry/A/2013 To The Public Information Officer/ Assistant Director, Central Survey Office, Chepauk, Chennai-600 005. The Public Information Officer/ Assistant Commissioner-II, Commissionerate of Land Administration, Chepauk, Chennai-600 005. The P.A.(General) to Collector, Office of the Collector of Tiruvallur, Tiruvallur District, Tiruvallur. The Public Information Officer/ Headquarters Deputy Tahsildar, Poonamallee Taluk Office, Poonamallee, Thiruvallur District. Copy to: FOC/Judgement file/scan Jb/ps .