Official denies information about a circular issued by herself
2 Mar, 2013A strange case of an official denying information about a circular issued by herself has been reported. An application was filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking information about instructions and orders issued by the Union territory administration of Chandigarh to its departments for submission of annual property returns.
Superintendent (home-I) who is also the central public information officer, declined to provide the information stating that no such instructions/orders were available with her. It has been claimed that the official had herself issued a circular dated October 10, 2011 which directed all heads of departments, boards and corporations to ask their employees to submit property details under Section 18 (1) of government employees (conduct) rules of 1966 which mandates all government employees to file their annual property returns in a prescribed pro forma.
The applicant then appealed to the appellate authority but his appeal was rejected. However he was told that his application has been forwarded to all departments for providing concerned information.