CHENNAI: Anti-corruption activist Jayaram Venkatesan, convener of Arappor Iyakkam, an NGO, on Tuesday said a union government body had replied to his RTI application in Hindi, despite him filing his application in English. In response, he has filed the first appeal in Tamil as a mark of protest against the Hindi “imposition”.
In a release, Jayaram said he filed an RTI application on August 5 with the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine under AYUSH Ministry seeking a copy of the state register of licensed medical practitioners of the Indian System of Medicine registered from Tamil Nadu as submitted by the TN’s Medical Council of Indian System of Medicine.
However, the Public Information Officer (PIO) answered in Hindi to all his questions in English in the response he received on September 13.
“The law and practice is clear that the union government should reply in English when my questions are in English as explained in the first appeal letter attached. This is also confirmed by the Madras High Court order in similar cases,” Jayaram said.
“This can only be seen as a measure of imposing Hindi knowing fully well that they are mandated to reply in English as per the law,” he added.
To protest this, Jayaram said he filed his first appeal in Tamil with the same department on Tuesday.
The RTI was filed to seek information on the Bachelor of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences being advertised as a medical course by TN government despite not being mentioned as such under the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Act, Jayaram said.