Chennai, Oct. 10: Sitting in his dilapidated office at Sunkarama Chetty Street that looks almost as old as the man himself, senior activist Traffic Ramaswamy is busy preparing a writ petition against the state information commission for its inordinate delay in issuing an order to a petitioner from Udumalpet.
On an average, the septuagenarian files 10-12 RTI petitions every month, most of which, he claimed, ‘were in public interest’. “But, I am very satisfied with the response. RTI is the most valuable tool of our democracy,” Mr Ramaswamy said.
His only concern was that the public were still not fully utilising its potential. “We have to follow up on our petitions till we get a proper response. Most people don’t do it,” he said.
On Saturday, Mr Ramaswamy was helping a young widow, fighting a fraudulent system that had allegedly covered up her husband’s cold-blooded murder. Ms Gnanajothi’s husband died at his brother’s home in 2001.
While the local police closed the case as a suicide in nine days, she has been fighting for the last nine years to establish that it was a murder.
“Using RTI, I have tried to obtain all information regarding the irregularities in the investigation of my husband’s murder. When I was not satisfied with the documents provided, I approached the information commission and my case was also heard and a favourable order delivered in July 2008,” Ms Gnanajothi said.
But, she received a copy of the order only in June 2009.
“This is unacceptable and I am going to question the prolonged delay, legally,” Mr Ramaswamy said.
He pointed out that his next writ petition would be against the RTI commission.
“I want to highlight the inadequacies of the Act, mainly insisting on the appointment of an independent body of information commissioners,” Mr Ramaswamy said.
On an average, the septuagenarian files 10-12 RTI petitions every month, most of which, he claimed, ‘were in public interest’. “But, I am very satisfied with the response. RTI is the most valuable tool of our democracy,” Mr Ramaswamy said.
His only concern was that the public were still not fully utilising its potential. “We have to follow up on our petitions till we get a proper response. Most people don’t do it,” he said.
On Saturday, Mr Ramaswamy was helping a young widow, fighting a fraudulent system that had allegedly covered up her husband’s cold-blooded murder. Ms Gnanajothi’s husband died at his brother’s home in 2001.
While the local police closed the case as a suicide in nine days, she has been fighting for the last nine years to establish that it was a murder.
“Using RTI, I have tried to obtain all information regarding the irregularities in the investigation of my husband’s murder. When I was not satisfied with the documents provided, I approached the information commission and my case was also heard and a favourable order delivered in July 2008,” Ms Gnanajothi said.
But, she received a copy of the order only in June 2009.
“This is unacceptable and I am going to question the prolonged delay, legally,” Mr Ramaswamy said.
He pointed out that his next writ petition would be against the RTI commission.
“I want to highlight the inadequacies of the Act, mainly insisting on the appointment of an independent body of information commissioners,” Mr Ramaswamy said.
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