RTI's 'heavy-weight' answer to applicant leaves him with 5-Kg junk
- M Kasimayan had writtent o the RTI complaining about a departmental store that sold poor-quality rice.
- He was ignored thrice, which pushed him into filing more complaints.
- He was surprised to get an answer weighing 5-kg.
FollowChennai-based motor mechanic would never forget the fallout of a follow-up of a complaint he had registered with the state food safety department under the RTI. He was surprised to see a 5-KG, 500 pages answer from the department regarding the same. Considered to be the lengthiest answer ever, the amusing part is none of the answers related to any of the questions he asked.Â
In July 2016, M Kasimayan, a Thiruvottiyur resident, had lodged a complaint regarding the quality of rice that is being sold at a private departmental store in his neighbourhood. He had lodged a complaint with the commissioner of Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Control Administration department. Though the query was forwarded to the concerned department, he did not get any reply. Therefore, he lodged another complaint in August 2016. Surprisingly, of his 7 questions, only three were answered and the rest were directed to the designated officer in Thiruvallur.
After being royally ignored thrice, he wrote again to the state information commission, the public information officer of the food safety department sent a reply the very next day, thus, surprising him with a 'heavy-weight' answer. Kasimayan, speaking to the New Indian Express, said, "Though I had sought details about follow-ups to my complaint filed on July 2016, the department by mistake sent me details on follow-ups to all the complaints they received since July 2016."
