Chennai: The state information commission has ordered Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) to release 20,000 as compensation to an RTI applicant for a delay of two years in furnishing the required information.The public information officer of the CMDA has been directed to submit the proof of compensation received by the applicant in person on April 14 along with the copy of the information furnished by the CMDA as sought by the petitioner.The petition originally filed in Jan 2024 by BR Jayaraj of Old Pallavaram and addressed to the special tahsildar (Chennai Outer Ring Road project) sought land acquisition details with respect to certain survey numbers.Since there was no reply, he filed an appeal to the then appellate authority Poongodi, before filing the second appeal before the information commission in June 2024. The appeal came up for hearing before the chief information commissioner Md Shakeel Akhter on March 24, to which the present CMDA PIO Shanmugasundaram appeared in person. Since the then PIO Manikandan had expired, the information commission directed the appellate authority to show cause for not disposing of her duty under RTI Act and submit her response on April 16. Though the present PIO submitted that a reply was furnished to the applicant in Nov 2024 with required information attached as annex, the appellant argued that there were no attachments in the reply.Since the PIO could not produce any evidence that the response was sent with annexures, the commission concluded that the applicant did not receive the required information.Apart from compensation, the commissioner also ordered CMDA to provide information to the applicant when he visits the office in person.
