Information on corruption charges against Wakf Board chief denied under RTI
28 Jul, 2013
In April 2012, the state government of Andhra Pradesh had ordered an inquiry into the alleged corruption charges against the State Wakf Board chairman related to irregular leasing of wakf properties worth crores of rupees. The inquiry was conducted by the Wakf Survey commissioner, who submitted four reports to the government in December, 2012.
On June 2013, an application was filed with the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get information about the inquiry reports. The CMO stated in the reply that the application was being forwarded to the Minorities Welfare Department (MWD) with instructions to furnish the information.
The PIO, MWD refused to provide the demanded information stating that its sensitive nature attracted Section 8(1) (h) of the RTI Act and hence was exempt from disclosure. However, the sources in MWD said unofficially that the reports have gone missing from the department.