State Information Commissioner P. Vijay Babu on Thursday said that show-cause notices would be issued against the revenue officials who had failed in discharging their duties, adding that disciplinary action would be initiated against the officials.
Evaluating the nature of complaints received during his two-day visit to the city, Mr. Babu said performance of the department in addressing the people’s complaints under the RTI Act was poor. “During my visit, I found officials dozing at office, with many chairs empty. Even, the board displaying RTI-related information was stashed away near a trash can and there were no records of any RTI cases,” he said.
Mr. Babu said the officials resorted to negligence in maintaining records. “A makeshift RTI register dated January 2015 was shown to me and there was no information of the cases registered during the previous years,” he said.
Citing a newspaper clipping which highlighted the arrest of a VRO for taking a bribe of Rs.1 lakh, Mr. Babu called upon the people working in social organisations, media and judiciary to unite and eliminate this bureaucratic corruption.
He alleged that some revenue officials, in connivance with land mafia tampered land documents.
‘TTD falls under
RTI Act’
Explaining about the provisions of the RTI Act, Mr. Babu said that the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) would surely fall under the ambit of the Act, as it was being ‘controlled and substantially financed’ by the government.
“TTD has government officers working in various capacities, including the Executive Officer. It also seeks help from various government entities and has been implementing the decisions taken by the government,” he clarified.
During his visit, Mr. Babu examined 48 cases, of which show-cause notices had been issued in related to 12.
During my visit, I found officials dozing at offices, with many chairs empty. There were no records of any RTI cases
P. Vijay Babu,State Info. Commissioner
