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When asking for info is asking too much

A full Bench of the Maharashtra Information Commission has been called to hear an appeal made by Shailesh Gandhi, asking for the medical reports of a former state forest minister.

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This Right to Information (RTI) application can rake up a major controversy.

For the first time, a full Bench of the Maharashtra Information Commission has been called on Monday, March 5, to hear an appeal made by activist Shailesh Gandhi, asking for the medical reports of S Surupsingh Naik, former state forest minister. According to a  Supreme Court order on May 10, 2006, Naik was to serve a month-long term in Thane prison, but he, instead, was transferred to the plush Critical Care Unit of JJ Hospital. The former minister had been found guilty of allowing saw mills to operate on prohibited forest lands.

Having waited for over 10 months in vain to get a redressal, Gandhi now fears the worst:  he may not get the medical reports at all, or the those handed over to him would be tampered documents.

Gandhi filed an RTI, asking for the medical reports, on May 27 last year - 11 days after Naik was shifted to hospital because of irregular blood pressure and diabetes. Though an individual’s medical reports are covered by an exemption under section 8(j) of the RTI Act, Gandhi argued that it was in the interest of the public he had wanted to know how and why a convict was allowed to stay in the air-conditioned comfort of hospital. He claimed that the action helped Naik to escape the punishment imposed on him, and he wanted the reports to prove his point.

Thereafter, it had been a long ordeal. JJ Hospital’s Public Information Officer (PIO) refused to part with the papers. The dean of JJ Hospital failed to cooperate with Gandhi’s first appeal. The activist followed it up with an appeal to Chief Information Commissioner Suresh Joshi on September 29, but no order was issued.

“Both the media and the people have questioned intensively on this issue, and would like to know the true reasons for a convict being accommodated in the air-conditioned comfort of a hospital,” said Gandhi.

If by some miracle he succeeds in obtaining the reports, the activist plans to show them to a panel of cardiologists for their opinion. But the prolonged dealy makes him fear foul play.

“There are chances of the records being interchanged. But the real issue is that such an RTI application and receipt of reports would deter powerful convicts and collusive doctors from misusing the ploy of getting admitted to hospitals to avoid punishment,” said Gandhi.

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