In a bizarre use of Right to Information (RTI) Act, a murder accused, lodged in district jail of Saharanpur, managed to get all his service benefits, including dues of his suspension period, with the help of Central Act.
Disclosing how a person even sitting inside a district jail has used RTI to get his service benefit, the State Information Commissioner (SIC) Hafiz Usman said Sompal Singh, a clerk in the Consolidation Department in Bijnore, was arrested after he gunned down a band master during a marriage ceremony in Dudumazra locality of Saharanpur just after the victim demanded a hefty sum as nek for allowing the groom to enter the bride’s home. Singh, who was named in the case, was arrested and lodged in Barrack No-2 of the Saharanpur district jail.
Usman said after the information of arrest of Sompal Singh reached his office, he was placed under suspension. The SIC claimed that after a decade passed when Sompal Singh failed to get any service benefit from his office, he made an interesting move by filing an application with the assistant consolidation officer of Najibabad in Bijnore asking to give details that why he did not get any money from the office and that how much due was pending for clearance.
Usman claimed that when the officer concerned did not reply, he again filed a reminder and after all his efforts went in vain, Sompal Singh filed an appeal in the court. The SIC said he summoned the official who had initially delayed a response on Wednesday, the officer came with all records. They informed that Sompal Singh was reinstated from suspension and that all his service benefits, including salary arrears of his suspension period, have been cleared and handed over to Singh.
When Singh’s advocate confirmed that his client had received all his dues, Usman closed the matter with warning to Consolidation Department officials that they must follow the RTI Act guidelines and reply within stipulated period.