BELGAUM: An application filed under Right to Information (RTI) Act by Express revealed President’s Secretariat do not care about memorandum submitted by various social organisations to President of India or other authorities. These applications submitted through state, district and taluk administrations hardly reach the secretariat.
Express filed an RTI application to Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of President’s Secretariat on January 18 asking action on memorandum that was submitted through Belgaum DC on June 17, 2011 by journalists.
The RTI sought copies of file and instructions given to any authority based on the memorandum. The journalists demanded CBI probe on Mumbai scribe Jyotirmoy Dey’s murder case and demanded appropriate action to design special law to protect media. The RTI application demanded a list of memoranda received from Belgaum DC office between January to December 2011 in support of Anna Hazare’s movement. CPIO of President’s Secretariat Saurabh Vijay’s reply stated the journalists’ memorandum was not traceable and no memoranda from Belgaum were maintained in the office.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Belgaum VS Chougala, who had received the journalists’ memorandum clarified it was forwarded to Chief Secretary of the state on June 23, 2011.
However, a personnel from the district administration told on condition of anonymity that most of these memoranda were in the garbage bin. “Only genuine ones will be forwarded to the concerned authority,” he added. RTI activist Ashok Halagali suggested if administrations had difficulties to handle such memoranda then they should stop receiving.
Instead according to him, the administrations should direct activists to post the same directly to the concerned authority. Sources in DC’s office said more than 300 such memorandums were received every month. But the number increased when Anna Hazare called upon the youths to protest against corruption.
Official sources claimed they forwarded the memoranda to the concerned authorities.