10 ward offices of BMC called the applicant the same day over a single RTI query
7 Dec, 2013
An application was filed with the Municipal Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get information about the number of Ganpati mandals that have got permission for 2013. The applicant stated she wanted the information because of several illegal Ganesh pandals coming up in the city.
The reply from the commissioner’s office stated that the applicant needed to file application with the deputy commissioner (removal of encroachment) and deputy commissioner Zone II for the said information. The applicant then filed applications with the two offices. However, the deputy commissioner (removal of encroachment) conveyed to her that the deputy commissioner Zone II was made the nodal officer for all matters related to Ganesh mandals as per a BMC circular and the requested information could be received only from his office. The DC zone-II forwarded the application to all the 24 ward officers of Greater Mumbai. However, the applicant got a call from 10 of the ward officers to appear before them on the same day.
The applicant Aftab Siddique, has claimed that the deputy commissioner zone II should have collated all the necessary information from the ward offices and should have provided to her and also alleged that the call from ten offices on a single day was an attempt of BMC to dissuade her from getting information.