Sharing the details of vehicles the Coimbatore Corporation officials use may pose a threat to their safety. Therefore, the details sought for cannot be given, says the reply by a Corporation officer in response to an RTI query.
The query, filed by S.P. Thiyagarajan, a GRG Nagar resident, in March 2019, sought copies of the order passed by the Corporation Commissioner to engage private vehicles on contract for the civic body’s work.
The query was the fourth in the series of four questions that he had sought for from the Assistant Commissioner (administration). The other three were – the list of vehicles the Corporation owns, their details; which of the officers use those vehicles; and, copies of the Commissioner’s order authorising such use.
Replying to the questions, the Assistant Commissioner in May that year says the Commissioners have, over the years, allotted vehicles based on need. After furnishing details of five vehicles, the officer adds that with the passage of time and transfers of officials, the incumbents continued to use the vehicles.
The officer then forwards the RTI query for the city engineer reply saying the details sought for concerned the engineering wing. The city engineer furnishes a list of 291 vehicles, including 32 cars, sports utility vehicles and others used by officials and forwards the RTI query to the health wing saying the fourth query concerned the wing.
After receiving the queries, the petitioner, Mr. Thiyagarajan, has appealed to the Deputy Commissioner saying the city health officer has failed to furnish copies of the Commissioner's order and that the reply was beyond the mandated 30-day period; and, therefore, the officer should furnish the copies at no cost.
Commenting on the replies given by the officials, he says that while he sought for copies of order, all that the officer gave him was a prevaricated reply.
Dissatisfied, Mr. Thiyagarajan in January 2020 files another RTI query to the Assistant Commissioner – accounts seeking copies of the bills for the Corporation spending ₹ 53.96 crore towards maintenance of its vehicles from 2014 to 2018.
The officer then forwards the query to the Assistant Commissioners of the five zones asking them to share the details. In response to the query, only Assistant Commissioners from the North and West Zones have replied – not by furnishing the copies of the bills but by merely giving a year-wise break-up of the money spent towards vehicle maintenance.
Mr. Thiyagarajan says this only shows the Corporation's reluctance to share basic details with tax payers and its obdurate functioning. He sought the details because he felt ₹ 53.96 crore, as mentioned in Corporation budgets, was way to high and for the money the civic body could have bought new vehicles.
A Corporation officer explains that the maintenance charge include fuel charges and therefore it appears high.
If that be the case, why is it that the Corporation refuses to share the details, he retorts.
