The Madras High Court has ordered that while replying to Right to Information (RTI) Act applications, the public information officers, appellate authorities as well as officials of Information Commission must sign in every page and provide their Aadhaar number too so that action can be taken for furnishing false information.
Justice S. Vaidyanathan wrote: “In case of any falsification or erroneous statement, the authorities can be proceeded against for furnishing false information both departmentally and also by invoking relevant penal provisions.”
He expected the State Information Commission to issue a circular in this regard.
The orders were passed while disposing of a writ petition filed by an individual M. Sittarasu in 2020.
Petitioner’s grievance
The petitioner was aggrieved against the information provided to him by Metropolitan Transport Corporation.
The petitioner sought a direction to the Information Commission to dispose of a complaint lodged by him under Section 18(3) of the RTI Act of 2005.
After finding that the Information Commission had already disposed of his complaint, the judge said the litigant would be at liberty to challenge the Commission’s decision if he was still aggrieved against its actions.
