TAMIL NADU INFORMATION COMMISSION Post Box No.6405 Kamadhenu Super Market First Floor, Old No.273, New No.378, Anna Salai, Teynampet, Chennai – 600 018
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TAMIL NADU INFORMATION COMMISSION Post Box No.6405 Kamadhenu Super Market First Floor, Old No.273, New No.378, Anna Salai, Teynampet, Chennai – 600 018. Tel : 24357580 Case Nos. 1000826/Enquiry Date of Enquiry : 15/04/2010 Present :: Thiru T.R.RAMASAMY, I.A.S.,(Retd) STATE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER Petitioner :: Thiru M. Ramesh Kumar Tessco City, Madurai - melur Four Way Main Road Thamaraipatti, Chittampatti Post Madurai - 625 122. Public Authority :: (1) The Public Information Officer Deputy Director, Dept. of Geology and Mining, Industrial Estate, Guindy Chennai - 600 032. (2) The Public Information Officer Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board 76, Anna Salai, Guindy, Chennai - 32. (3) The Public Information Officer O/o the Chief Engineer, State Ground Water & Surface Water, Resources Data Centre, Tharamani Chennai - 600 113. (4) The Public Information Officer O/o the Managing Director, Industrial Explosives Ltd., 735, LLA Building I Floor, Anna Salai, Chennai - 600 002. * * * * * 1. For today's (15/04/2010) enquiry, the Petitioner Thiru M.Ramesh Kumar, was absent On behalf of the Public Authority (1) Thiru N. Anantha Gopan, Asst. Director, Department of Geology and Mining, Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai - 600 032, (2) Mr.R.Mohan Naidu, Public Information Officer, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, Chennai (3) Thiru V.Gunasekar, Public Information Officer, TEL, Vellore, and (4) Thiru K.V. Rajan, Public Information Officer, State Ground Water & Surface Water, Resources Data Centre, Tharamani, Chennai - 600 113, were present. 2. The petitioner is a frequent petitioner under the R.T.I. Act. He has not appeared to agitate his case. In his second appeal, he says the Public Information Officer has provided irrelevant information for item Nos.1, 2, 3. For item Nos.4 to 13, the petitioner has stated that he has not received the required information. 3. After hearing the Public Information Officers of the Departments and considering the second appeal filed by the petitioner, the following order is passed :- 4. For item Nos. 1, 2, 3, the information available with the Department has been parted with and no other information is available. The Commission cannot order to provide information which is not in existence. For item No.4, the Director of Explosives has given a reply as early as August 2009 quoting Chapter 15 of the Metalliferous Mines Regulations, 1961 and Indian Explosives Act, 1984. For item No.5, it was informed that the granite waste are dumped only in the area shown in the approved mining plan. For question Nos. 6, 7, & 12, the Pollution Control Board has informed that no information is available with the Pollution Control Board. For question Nos. 8, 11 & 13, the Public Information Officer, Office of the State Ground Water & Surface Water, Resources Data Centre, has given a reply to the petitioner on 18.07.2009. For question No.10, the reply was already given by the Public Information Officer, Department of Geology and Mining. In spite of receiving this information, the petitioner has suppressed this fact and filed the second appeal to the Commission in January 2010. 5. Information as available as per Section 2 (f) of the R.T.I. Act has been provided to the petitioner. The petitioner has quoted study made in Karnataka and asked the question, will mining cause contamination of nearby wells and degradation of garden and agricultural lands ? Similarly in question No.13, based on the Karnataka Study Report, the petitioner asked the Public Information Officer for how many kilometers, the water table will be affected due to mining ? There is no material to show that any such study has been conducted in Tamil Nadu. 6. Unless specific studies are conducted for specified areas, these types of information cannot be made available as per Section 2 (f) of the R.T.I. Act. Since the available information has already been provided to the petitioner by the Department of Geology and Mining, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, and Office of the State Ground Water & Surface Water, Resources Data Centre, no further action is necessary and the case is treated as closed. TAMIL NADU INFORMATION COMMISSION Orders approved on this the 16th day of April. 2010 Under the orders of the Commission [S,Mohanadhas] Assistant Registrar Case Nos. 1000826 To Thiru M. Ramesh Kumar Tessco City, Madurai - melur Four Way Main Road, Thamaraipatti, Chittampatti Post, Madurai - 625 122. Case Nos. 1000826 To (1) The Public Information Officer Deputy Director, Dept. of Geology and Mining, Industrial Estate, Guindy Chennai - 600 032. (2) The Public Information Officer Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board 76, Anna Salai, Guindy, Chennai - 32. (3) The Public Information Officer O/o the Chief Engineer, State Ground Water & Surface Water, Resources Data Centre, Tharamani Chennai - 600 113. (4) The Public Information Officer O/o the Managing Director, Industrial Explosives Ltd., 735, LLA Building I Floor, Anna Salai, Chennai - 600 002. .