JOIN USIn a significant order, the Karnataka Information Commission has directed the state police to register FIRs whenever a complaint is received against government servants for declaring public records as "not traceable" or "missing".
Following the commission's order, the Devanahalli police registered an FIR against eight officials of the Devanahalli sub-registrar's office for replying to an RTI application as "not available".
The officials booked under section 9 of the Karnataka State Public Records Act are Vasantha Kumar S R (retired senior sub-registrar); Imtiyaz Ahmed, another senior sub-registrar; Nagabhusan K M, sub-registrar; Siddaramegowda, first division assistant; Ragindrappa, Kamalakshi T K, both second division assistants; Narasimhaiah D R, (retired attender) and Mathew K K, a D group employee.
The commission had taken up an appeal filed by N Shivakumar challenging the disposal of his RTI application with the reply "not available".
Shivakumar had sought copies of sale deeds and thumb impression details pertaining to a property transaction. The counsel appearing for Shivakumar said that the appeal was filed in 2014.
"The Public Records Act and rules categorise certain records as permanent records and such records cannot be misplaced or lost. In the present case, sale deeds and thumb impression records are permanent records, but have been misplaced,'' advocate Umapathy said.
He said the commission had given directions on July 2017 and October 2017 to ensure registration of FIRs in such complaints. The Devanahalli police failed to register the FIR and the commission took serious note of it.
"After a reminder, the Devanahlli police registered the FIR on January 28, 2018. The commission directed the police to submit an action taken report by the next hearing on March 16, 2018,'' he said.
Apart from criminal action, officials responsible for loss of public records also have to face departmental enquiry.