Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THANKS TO RTI ACT 2005

BY FIROZ.T.TOTANAWALA 

THE BANGALORE METRO REPORTER 

THANKS TO RTI ACT 2005

 I have brought to light and exposed the Stamp Papers Scam, i.e., printing and selling of Stamp Papers without any appropriate authorisation, which has been done by the State bank of Mysore since 2003. Thanks to the RTI Act of 2005, without which it was not at all possible for me to obtain the relevant information pertaining to the scam. I had filed more than 25 RTI applications with various government departments, which are well connected and responsible to supervise and monitor the functioning of the State Bank of Mysore as far as the printing and selling of the stamp papers are concerned and to reconcile the revenue derived from it. 

 I had to struggle a lot because of the lackadaisical attitude of each of the departments and non-cooperation shown to me in the first instance, misinterpretation of the questions that were asked by me and provision of the irrelevant and misleading information to me thereafter. I had been attempting to get the appropriate information relentlessly from every other department and my repeated attempts made me stronger every time I approached them. My act of comparison of the information collected from various departments since more than a year and scrutinising the same with utmost patience revealed the discrepancies committed by the State Bank of Mysore and the lethargic attitude of the supervisory bodies, which led to the rebirth of yet another scam in different shape and style immediate after the surfacing of the Telgi’s. 

The information collected from the filing of the RTI applications was forwarded to the Honorable Prime Minister, Honorable Finance Minister, the Governor, RBI, the Director General, India Security Press, Nashik, the CBI, Bangalore, the Banking Ombudsman, Bangalore and others concerned immediately for their information and needful action in this regard. 

 Last but not the least, it’s all happened due to the implementation of the RTI Act and its easy access and availability to the common man in the form of a simple tool, but with powerful claws and unparalleled sharpness, which can penetrate into the darkness of other side of the bureaucracy. But I have a doubt about the outcome of this scam as to whether this too would face a slow death leaving the culprits escape scot free without getting punished. Let us wait and see!