Madurai: The state information commissioner S Muthuraj sought information under section 4(1) of the RTI Act on the upkeep of the circuit house in Madurai, which he found to be in bad shape when he stayed there for an enquiry in June this year. This is one of the first cases of the information commissioner seeking suo moto information under the RTI Act.
The case being enquired by Muthuraj pertained to Karupayee, 56, of Madurai, seeking information regarding the allocation of shops in the Madurai fruit market in Matuthavani under the RTI Act on September 23, 2016. As there was a delay in providing the information, an appeal was filed with the state information commission, following which the Muthuraj conducted an enquiry on the same in Madurai on June 19 and 20 this year. After the enquiry, it was found that there was a lapse on the part of the Madurai Corporation information officer, who had delayed in providing information resulting in the woman losing the opportunity to get a shop in the market. The information officer of the corporation was ordered to pay a compensation of Rs 5,000 to the petitioner for her loss.
It was during this enquiry that the commissioner noticed the bad upkeep of the circuit house in Madurai and issued a notice under section 4(1) of the RTI Act on the upkeep of this government guest house to the chief engineer PWD, Chennai.
He has stated that during his stay at the circuit house in Madurai on June 19 and 20, he had seen that the premises of this building was ill-maintained and filled with overgrown shrubs. However, this building was had star hotels on both sides which had well maintained gardens.
So, he sought details of the budget allocations for the maintenance of the circuit house in Madurai for five years 2014-2015, to 2018-2019 and the expenditure report for the same period. Further, he has also sought details of the number of employees working in the various government guest houses maintained by the PWD in Tamil Nadu and the wages given to them.
Founder of the Makkal Vizhipunarvu Trust, K Hakkim said that this was one of the first instances of the state information commissioner himself seeking details under section 4 of the RTI Act. Under this section, all public authority should maintain records and computerize the same, so that public can view the same. It aims at minimizing the need for public to use the RTI Act for information on the same.