Strange it may sound, but a man filed an application under Right to Information (RTI) Act to confirm whether a youth, staking claim over his property was his son or not.
The youth, claiming to be the `son’ of the applicant disappeared under mysterious circumstances 16 years back and has now surfaced to stake claim over his father’s property.
State Information Commissioner Hafiz Usman, in whose court the above matter came for hearing, has ordered District Magistrate of Moradabad to enquire and submit a report within a month so that necessary action could be taken.
Reports said that Dharmendra, son of Suresh Chandra of Surajnagar hamlet of Thakurdwara (Moradabad) disappeared under mysterious circumstances on June 15, 2000. Suresh searched for his son and after learning that someone had kidnapped him, he lodged an application of abduction against unknown persons with the local police station which was refused by the police. later, Suresh met the SSP, Moradabad and several senior officers but to no avail and his report was not even registered by the police.
As Suresh continued his search for his missing son, the local thesildar summoned him in July last year, informing him that his son Dharmendra had filed an application to stake claim over 18 bighas of agriculture land.
Suresh later contacted the thesildar and learnt that a youth had produced educational certificate of Krishak Inter College in Shariefnagar (Moradabad) to claim that he was Suresh Chandra’s son.
To find out the truth about his `son’, Suresh filed an application under the RTI with Basic Siksha Adhikari of Mordabad, asking for documents through which Dharmendra had taken admission in Krishak Inter College in 2000, the sme year when he disappeared.
The college informed Suresh that they gave admission to Dharmendra with the help of a Transfer Certificate (TC) issued in 2001 from Janta Montessri School also in Shariefnagar in Moradabad.
Suresh again filed an RTI asking about t he date of registration of Janta Montesseri School. When Suresh failed to get any reply, he filed an appeal in the court of SIC Hafiz Usman, who first directed the BSA of Moradabad to furnish details.
But when the officer dragged his feet, he asked the DM to conduct an enquiry. Usman also revealed that Suresh informed him that Dharmendra was not his missing son and that someone connived to produce a unknown youth before the tehsildar.
Suresh said that the move was made to grab his 18-bighas of land through forged records. Suresh also claimed that the Janta Montesseri School from where the TC was shown to be issued was not even in existence in that year.